Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Spirits, particularly Anak and Induk, do not have the same sort of consciousness that people and other sentient beings maintain. What might seem logical and reasonable to a person is an insult to the highest degree for some of these spirits. They often understand intentions, feelings, and action more than conversation and thought. It is how it has been since they first spawned from the chaotic swirl of Emea. This Induk was one such being, and was incredibly old. Old enough that it remembered the war the Immortals fought against one another, that devastated the lands. Old enough to remember the war of the Originals. Old enough to remember the Verses that it answered to, to remember the dragons that it considered friends and family.

And the older a spirit, typically the stronger it was as well. And if anyone truly knew that might made right it was the spirits of old. But they also understood that balance created the strongest outcomes. Balance in all things. Just as there were spirits of water that give life, there are spirits of fire that take it. Balance. And this Induk wasn't simply first in these lands. It created these lands. Through the Mud Burho, it created every stone, every clod of dirt, gave rise to every plant, insect, and creature born here.

More importantly, it created the lesser spirits that were in its control, to serve the area.

And so, with the insults given by this child, who had lived for less than the most fleeting of moments in the eyes of this Induk, it set out a call to its Anak. The Tunawa and any marked by Moseke (or were her mortalborn) would feel the anger and the vibrations through the mud first. It was an anger steeped in loss, drenched in pain. The mud swirled and churned all through the burho. Soon, it began to rampage, vast waves of rock, earth, and mud splashing along the edges, more violent than most storms seen by experienced sailors, waves nearly 20 meters high, crashing down in a deafening roar.

This cut Thysbae, and Moseke, off from the rest of the group, and effectively trapped everyone within the Mud Induk's grasp. This child wished to see the might of an elder Induk? So be it. Mud began wrapping its way up every person's legs, including the Tunawa, and gripped them tight, turning to stone, stopping at the waist. But the gripping continued to squeeze each person, pressing equipped blades into flesh, breaking wood or bone tools, and threatening to shatter the living bones. Then it began to hail. Except instead of balls of ice, it rained down stones upon the people. One the size of a fist crashed into Aetu's face, breaking her nose and knocking out her two front teeth from the top row, forcing her to swallow them.

The only individuals within the Mud Induk's realm that were exempt from any of this were the animals, who appeared to be protected by smaller spirits of stone, earth, and mud.

!	Message from: Aegis
	This round of posting has reset. Everyone may post again now, including Thysbae and Aetu.

Kisaik stepped onto the stone that floated atop the muddy waters, with a smile as he regarded the manifestation of Moseke. He was positively beaming at this point, as he watched Slate jumping into the water for a swim. Wow, he could barely get the cat to calm down while it was raining, and it just jumped in there. Wonderful.
He watched the scene as he and the others were borne forth toward the center of the Burho.

Moseke pled her case before them all, and then stepped aside, waiting for them to say their peace before the great spirit that was languishing beneath the earth.
Kisaik nearly opened his mouth to speak, but someone said their peace before him. And it wasn't good. It was downright reckless. His eyes were full of terror as the earth spirit rose from the muddy pool, dragging some of those caught in his radius upwards with him.

Kisaik could feel him crushing him like a tube of paste, grinding his bark legs. He might be cripple for a while after this, if he even survived.

Kisaik always believed that it was the birthright of every living thing to thrive and grow forever. He was an aspirant to eternal life. A lofty goal, but one he felt could be accomplished through the miracles of alchemy, if he gave it enough study. Now it looked like all that would be ending.

"O! Great spirit of the earth!" He began, tears falling out of his eyes. Not for sadness, but concern, and also because the fluid was getting squished out of him, "Listen not to the empty threats of us foolish children! Within you lies the life giving soil of Moseke, earth mother. But without a seedling to grow from, you've languished for a long time in the depths of the mud. Take my body as your seedling! And with this fallen seedling, let a great tree grow! But let my silly friends go!"

He looked up at the face of the Induk. "Choose life, great spirit, and you will shelter children without counting beneath your boughs!"

The spirit was still seething with anger after having felt the emotions given off by these ants. Only two of them had given the Induk some placation. In the swirling mud, a cave appeared, a floor solid and walls flowing, right near Kisaek and Rabu. Stone pathways led from it to the two Tunawa. It seemed the spirit wished for them to enter, as the mud and stone holding them in place fell away, and no stones rained down upon them.

The spirit had no mind for begging, for begging was a distinctly human act. Spirits had no concept of it, and the idea that these mortals offered their words and nothing more fell upon deaf ears. But not all spirits were the same. Where Induk were often old and seemingly simple minded, Diri were more sentient and akin to mortals, for some of them had been mortal at one time, whereas others became sentient to fulfill their purpose. A Diri appeared floating in the air next to Silv. "You raise a good point Blueberry. Say not your words, instead, show them. I help you."

The diri crumbled the stone around Silv's legs. Silv would find the stones no longer striking her, and stones would appear to provide her the ability to walk about. Meanwhile, Cervantez attracted the attention of another Diri as well. It crawled up the stone and up the man's body to his shoulder. "Words are useless. The Mud knows action." The stone on Cervantez's legs fell away, floating up and around him. It deflected stones that flew at the man, and Cervantez would find that his own emotions and desires could somewhat control these stones, defensively.

At the mud burho's edge, Moseke looked on with pain in her eyes. She knew of the damage her kind had caused upon the world and the spirits that built and cared for it. She wished to end the world's pain. To bring about a natural balance of life. She was one of the few immortals that wondered if their presence did more harm than good. Perhaps they should just return to Emea, create their own world instead of stealing this one.

A wooden staff, old, twisted, gnarled grew in Moseke's hand. She offered it to Thysbae. "Offer this to the spirit in my stead. This is the Life Bringer. It is not of mine creation, but rather found upon these lands."
If Thysbae accepted, he'd notice that once it touched his hand, small sprouts and saplings began to grow around his feet. They didn't reach full maturity, but new plants began to form. The staff would allow Thysbae to approach the Induk in safety if so desired.

Meanwhile, Aetu continued to be pelted by rocks and stones, mud splashing up into her mouth and eyes every time either were opened. She seemed to be receiving the worst of the reckoning, the areas further away from her a bit more calm. If it kept up Aetu would surely die, a stone finally cracking that thick skull of hers. One did smack her in the forehead, glancing off and striking an opossum nearby, who hissed in pain, but fell slumped, injured by the blow.

The cave that opened up for Kisaik and Rabu was not well lit, and yet the way through was apparent to the two should they enter. They could feel the guiding hand of the Induk. There was no malice toward the two of them, but there was still a swirl of pain and confusion in the mud raging around them. The tunnel led deep into the earth beneath the mud burho, before opening up into a great cavern, of stone natural.

This was clearly a natural formation. No mortal hands had touched any of it, and in fact, none had ever stepped foot in here before now. In the center of the cavern, breaking through the stone floor, forming a large crack, was a tiny sapling. The crack extended deep across the cave, and disappeared further through the walls. How far it truly extended was impossible to know. The sapling looked weak, slumping over slightly, the leaves beginning to wilt.

Kisaik's tears of sap didn't dry as the grip of the Induk relented on his lower half. The horror he'd witnessed, the destruction and violence, it was really sad. He could feel the Induk's grief and pain, reflected on its treatment of the poor woman who was still being stoned, as well as the large Lotharro being pelted with stones. So as he slid down to the path leading into that cave which opened for he and Rabu, he followed the flute-voiced hero into the entrance. Emboldened by his friend's trust, he entered the opening to the cave.

Having done so, sap still leaked from his eyes as well as his legs, which had only just moments before been crushed by the Induk. He limped along, feeling every ounce of anguish that the Induk had suffered thorugh the eons. He left a trail of sap behind him as his limbs began to heal.

When they finally arrived to where he believed the Induk meant to guide them, he nearly broke down anew. The saddest little sapling was growing in the middle of this cave. There, growing through a crack in the ground, it stood wilting. As Rabu did what he would for the leaves, with his healing sap, Kisaik knelt by the crack where the sapling sprung, and bent over where he supposed its roots must've been.

"Accept my sap, my bark, my grief on our behalf, great sapling. The earth has suffered so much in such a long time. Now, accept my tears, and live long in this soil. Let the earth sing with life again and renew this Great Spirit's hope for all the arcs and trials to come." So saying, he broke down sobbing over the sapling, where it grew out of the crack. When, after a few bits, his eyes ran out of sap to give, he rose and weakly hugged the sapling's trunk.