the Rift


the indigo priest and pale priestess

Iscah Posts: N/A
Unregistered
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#1

the indigo priest


The Gods of The Rift speak and the servant obeys. That’s how it was, how it always has been, always would be.

The magic of the High Priests manifested like static in their minds, a cacophony of sound, the voices of all the tortured gods of the Rift that melded in a constant stream of cries. In the order, the servant cast aside themselves in order to be a vessel of the gods but for the High Priests it was not possible to do anything else; their minds were so full of the gods there was no room for the self, it was cast away, forgotten, unwanted. It was their job to listen, to interpret, and to see the orders carried out when a voice broke through the static. It never mattered which god gave the command, whether they gave and order to help or to hurt, it was obeyed.

Save the pale priestess.

The order had come and the indigo priest obeyed. He set out at dawn in with four of his Berserkers. They were difficult to keep in hand as they traveled, wild as they were, but the promise of bloodshed kept them moving. The massive priest lumbered over the glassy landscape without speech and did not waver from his path, the god had shown him where to go and so he went. 

The five approached the the prisons entrance at a trot. Shouts rose, ahead of them, four of the rift herd had been left on the surface to guard the prisoners inside and came running at the obvious threat on their charge. “Stop! What is your business here?!” one shouted, but the priest and his mad fighters made no reply. “STOP!” the guard yelled again but the the five were almost upon them.

All the indigo priest had to do was nod and the fighters were released. While he held his pace toward the entrance, his underlings surged forth to attack with savage pleasure. They would kill or die in service of the gods, it did not matter which. The guards rushed up to meet them and the miniature battle began, four pairs meeting with shouts and screams as the blue priest moved steadily between them. The Berserkers were selected for their size and strength, for their savagery and he had not doubt that they would keep his path clear. 

The entrance to the underground dungeon was cleverly made, hidden in the mirrored landscape unless you knew where to look and were standing in the right spot but the god had shown him. A wide mouth opened in the earth and wide shallow steps spiraled downward into the darkness and he descended. Every now and again he passed a cell door off the curved staircase but his silver eyes did not so much as glance through the metal bars until he reached the door he sought. There she was, blindfolded and in chains. If a twinge of sympathy came it went unnoticed, the priest felt little enough emotion, and if he did it did not sway him. A rescue missions this may be but he was no knight in shining plate, he was a servant following orders and his feelings did not matter. They never mattered. 

Two more guards had been posted on either side of her cell, a black stallion to the right and a grey to the left. The blue priest did not heed their warnings but stopped upon the wide landing and faced them with a stony face. "Identify yourself!" the grey shouts, his voice slightly tremulous. From above the shouts and screams echo around the chamber and filter down and this blue beast is a fearsome thing. Built like a mountain and just as still with pupilless that glow and shift like shining silver. All three stand for a moment still and silent and then the guards make to move forward.

A screaming of twisting metal and a bang of exploding rock split the cavern as the priestess' cell door is ripped from the wall and torn in two. Without so much as a flick of his ear, the blue priest warps the metal, if flies through the air and wraps wound the guards, driving them away and towads the wall on either side of the cell's opening. They shout in rage, in protest but the priest pays no attention to their ire, only drives the ends of their new metal shackles into the rock. The force throws them hard against the wall and their shouting falls silent. The sounds from above have stopped as well.

The indigo priest stands for a moment, quiet and still, studying the bound mare. Pale and refined, in shades of smokey grey Beautiful... the word comes to mind but it doesn't make any sense to the stoic stallion. Why that word? Appearance was irrelevant, functionality was not added by being beautiful, so why didn't it come to mind now? Why was this woman bound here, what had she done? It doesn't matter. he reminds himself, he still has a task to complete. The are four small pops as a link of each chain that binds her legs is released and for the first time today the indigo priest speaks, his voice deep and gruff. "Come with me, Priestess."

but this is your heart
can you feel it? can you feel it?
Coding by Tamme


@Naja

Naja Posts: N/A
Unregistered
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#2

"King Osip has passed." The voice comes and the priestess turns her head to the messenger that was sent to her. "Has he?" She asks, the sympathetic tone comes easily to her, though she feels no remorse in the stallion's passing. To her he is little more than a hurtful, evil creature that deserved no afterlife for the sins he'd committed and the lives he'd taken.

"Master Naum requests your presence immediately." The messenger girl continues on and this makes the priestess sigh with barely contained annoyance because she feels that the entire family were far too demanding. Every time they called for her they expect her to drop everything she is doing, whether it be tending to the sickly by giving them their last rites or praying for their healing or simply meditating she was to be at their beck and call.

"I will be there shortly." She says and turns her head away, clearly dismissing the young messenger. "But Master Naum..."

"I will be there shortly." The Priestess says once more and the messenger is baffled. "Master Naum will be most displeased!" She squeaks and Naja can hear that the young filly is scared to bring news that she will not be arriving right away. If there is anything at all that Naum is known for it is his temper.

"Tell Master Naum that I must complete my meditation, I will be down once I am finished." Her head turns once more and she looks at the young messenger, who nods her head. "Yes ma'am." She says and she turns and leaves. Naja listens to her hoofsteps fade as she walks down the long hallway and then all is quiet. The Priestess sighs and turns back to her window, at the land that stretches out endlessly.

It is several hours later when Naja descends from her room to the King's quarters where Naum is waiting for her outside the door, his anger barely contained as he looks at her. "So nice of you to finally arrive Priestess." He growls. Naja only smiles pleasantly at the seething heir and succeeds in making him angrier. "My meditation took longer than usual." The lie slips easily past her lips. Naum's eyes narrow but then he turns his head toward the door, taps a hoof against it and it swings open as the guards inside pull against it. 

There, in the middle of the room, lies the deceased king. In his age his body has withered, his once onyx face white and bearded, his eyes wide open and staring into nothingness. It matters not to the Priestess what has killed the King, it only matters that he is dead. Finally dead. Had he been a good King, fair and just, kind-hearted and warm her heart would weep for him. But he was filled with nothing but hate, selfishness, lust, and blood thirst. As her eyes sweep across the room she finds his soul leering at her, tucked away in a corner. It is just as black and wretched as she always anticipated.

"You see him." Naum says as he sees her eyes change from their natural gold to a filmy white. This time she cannot lie. She nods her head as she continues to stare at the leering spirit. "I do." She says. "Good. You will pray for him and release his soul." Naum instructs. Naja looks away from Osip's spirit and to his heir and as she does so her eyes return to their normal color.

"I will not." She thinks but she does not know if she has the fortitude to force the words from her mouth.

"What are you waiting for?" Naum growls, his patience wearing thinner with each passing second that she stands there staring at him, but she barely hears him. She is remembering Osip in his younger days, with his raiders overtaking herd after herd. She remembers when he targeted her own herd, remembers how he mercilessly slaughtered her family and friends one after another, how he only spared her and two other fillies.

She remembers her teachings when she is forced into the lifestyle of a priestess. "Only those who are prayed over by a priestess will be released from this life. Some unfortunate souls do not have this privilege and become confined here, unable to ascend to the afterlife, and so they remain trapped here for eternity."

She remembers her vowed revenge as she thinks of her family and friends, slaughtered and left to rot, their souls left to wander endlessly.

"No." She says and Naum turns on her, unable to believe that she told him no. He glares, he slams a hoof into the floor as he tries to intimidate her. "WHAT?!" He bellows, but Naja does not move, she simply stares.

"I said no." She repeats and it makes her almost giddy to deny the King his ascension.

"You will." Naum hisses.

"The only prayer you father will get from me is that his soul be cast into the deepest, darkest, hottest pit of hell." She says evenly.

"You bitch!" Naum shouts at her, he lunges and shoves her back and as he does so the guards spring into action and move to each side of her, each of them grabbing a delicate wing in their jaws. "Take her to the dungeon!" He shouts angrily. "Shackle her, lock her away until death takes her and let her soul rot."

Naja remains silent as Naum passes quick and harsh judgement on her, and she remains silent as she walks with the guards to the dungeon. She does not protest as she is shackled to the floor, nor when the wizard comes with his cloth and blindfolds her, curses it and tells her that if she removes it her eyesight will be lost forever. She finds it curious that Naum would have this done when he intends to keep her there until her death, but she doesn't question it.

She simply stands.

She waits.

She has faith

---


Her head lifts when she hears the screams from above and she wonders if the gods she'd prayed silently to for rescue have heeded her. She hears the guards shuffle uneasily, listens the heavy hoofsteps as someone descends to the dungeon. One of her guards shouts, the screams from above continue and then is accompanied by the screeching of metal twisting as her cell door is torn from its hinges.

Naja waits expectantly, assuming that there will be another battle waged right there before her as there is in the world above, but it is surprisingly quick. There is little more than shouts and those fall silent rather quickly. The shouts inside fall silent and the shouts outside follow suit. It is deafening after so much racket. It is the silence that comes with death. She can feel his presence looming over her as he enters her cell, hears the pops as her shackles are broken. He tells her to go with him but she remains still, her blindfolded face turned toward the voice. "Who are you?"

"."


To the ends of the earth would you follow me?
There's a world that was meant for our eyes to see
Credit

@Iscah

Iscah Posts: N/A
Unregistered
:: :: ::
#3

the indigo priest


”Who are you.” It seems to the priest such a strange question, it was asked of him from time to time but there was no answer to be given and others seemed not to like that. Who… there wasn’t a who… All the priest ever had to offer was what. He knew exactly  what he was: a shell, a vessel, a tool. That was all but it seemed that that answer rarely satisfied those who received it. But what did he care for their satisfaction? What difference did it make when he had a task to finish, a function to preform? None whatsoever.

The blindfolded woman turns her covered face towards him, following the sound of his voice and so states her question. He does not answer for a moment and the silence hums between them. His actions had to be logical, with no ambition but to complete his task there was no reason for anything else. He could pull her, push her, to lead her from the dungeon, but it occurred to him that she might struggle and in doings bring injury upon herself. Save her. Protect her. those had been his instructions. She would not come if she was afraid, so he must reassure. Logical. It was just logical…

When he speaks again his voice is quieter but still gruff; he has no practice at displaying emotion, good or bad. “I am a servant of the Gods and mean you no harm.” He states simply, and remains where he is, waiting for her. There is no sound from above so his berserkers must have done their job and he has no reason to rush her. If she would wait, he would wait with her, as long as he got her out of her prison. No instructions had come for after her rescue, but that doesn't concern the mountain, that would come, and he had his task. He would complete his task.

He ponders a moment, silver eyes lingering upon her blindfold. If she cannot see perhaps she needs a guide. With a small exhale, he starts forward slowly as not the startle her. Turning his body without brushing her is difficult in the small cell and his head has to be kept low to avoid scraping his ears on the rocky ceiling but eventually he manages to stand beside her, shoulders level. “I am beside you, Priestess, and will be your guide. Do not be affraid.”


but this is your heart
can you feel it? can you feel it?
Coding by Tamme


@Naja

Naja Posts: N/A
Unregistered
:: :: ::
#4

She doesn't know how many days she's been locked away, chained and blindfolded, in the dungeon, cast aside and forgotten about because of her insubordination. All she knows is that in the time she's spent locked there she's prayed for a savior, so when he tells her that he is a servant of the Gods she believes him. She does not question, she does not doubt. She believes and she smiles because her Gods are good to her. "Thank you." She murmurs and she steps slowly toward the God Servant and as she moves she notices how loud her hoofsteps are in the silence.

 “I am beside you, Priestess, and will be your guide. Do not be afraid.”

"I am not afraid, Sir..." The Priestess says to the God Servant. She can feel his presence beside her, looming over her like a hulking protector. She steps forward, gingerly to avoid tripping over any scraps of metal that might litter the floor after her cell door had been ripped away. "You are blessed with magic?" She asks and she tilts an ear in his direction as she listens for his answer. "How did you come by it?" There were two ways she knew of receiving magic; gifted by the gods or bartering for it with witches. He said he was a God Servant but she wanted to hear it with her own ears that his magic was a blessing from the Gods they both served.

"Before we part..." Naja's steps came to a stop as she ascended the stairs and she turned her head to the Priest. "This blindfold is cursed... Naum had his witch curse it. I need the curse removed so I can take this blindfold off and see again." She paused, wondering if the man would be willing to help her once more. "Will you help me?"

"."


To the ends of the earth would you follow me?
There's a world that was meant for our eyes to see
Credit

@Iscah


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