The Five Children
Their souls are immortal-they can't die like you think! They reincarnate every generation anew-
Everything dies. Everything that exists that is not us eventually does. They are no exception, despite their unique nature.
They will suffer for eternity within the halls of the dead! They are Demigods, you know that!
Demigods are Immortal. These beings are... pieces of us-pieces of you, made to watch over and protect life. Emotions-aspects of personality. Templat-
Do not dare finish that sentence.
Arvora. Please. If you intervene they will destroy the cycle of life and death and make this situation even worse. When the time comes for them to disappear, you must not stop it.
This will be your greatest mistake, and it will haunt you until the end of everything. I can promise you that, at least.
...
Five children. Five aspects, emotions-beliefs. Each built to defend life from its greatest dangers of the time, far before the concept of death even existed. To lead people into the light when the hardest obstacles darkened the way. Not mortal, but not gods-these souls were granted the infinite powers of creation and reincarnation. Every generation they rose, their souls relearning themselves and that which they held. Heroes, artisans-priests. Every one of them started small, but eventually became legend in some form. They were the closest to Arvora's children as anyone could be. The very souls themselves were pieces of the deity, borne directly from her power. They were the guides to the ordinary, and respected among everyone. Engraved into legend, the five "Chosen Children" of every age brought peace and prosperity..until the dark cloak of death silenced them one by one.
Challenged by this newfound terror, only four of the five were fully grown and roaming the lands;
Aidan, the aspect of Courage
Cullen, the aspect of Hope
Kaley, the aspect of Joy
Rhona, the aspect of Kindness
When the first death occurred, Rhona was there to experience it before the others. In her arms, an elder feys passing illness turned grave from an infection, and she soon after faded from the world, her soul disappearing from the material plane. The apprentice doctor, Thalia-was unable to save her from it with the tools she had on hand. Terrified and scared, the people turned to hatred, throwing her out of the village and were close to attacking her before Rhona stopped them. Despite their legendary status, the defense of the person who in their eyes killed a loved one was unacceptable, and they began to plot. While sleeping that night, the villagers swore their vengeance, and cut open her throat when she was at her most vulnerable. Kindness suffered, her soul wrenching and twisting from its maddening betrayal. One of five were taken away, and Arvora was forced into inaction. Sorrow began to take hold.
Aidan responded to the shadow of death as expected for his form. He chose to try and protect the people, and defend against those driven mad by the chaos that ensued. Mob after mob attacked him, and mob after mob he repelled without harming them badly. Begging them to stop he fronted each physical strike to his person, be it fist, chair or improvised weapon. Nothing was spared in their endless outrage. Villages burned around Aidan as he evacuated everyone he could, but it was never enough. As he established a small base camp for the refugees, they began to turn themselves. Their loved ones gone, left to rationing, starvation-dehydration... pain. At his peak of defense and stalwart courage, the people behind him who he saved turned upon him, and with a broken branch through the chest, he fell. Courage never left his form as he tried to fight back, even until the end. The pain of inaction and fear began to take over Arvoras soul as the second was taken from her.
Cullen rallied the people his best, blossoming his power to help and give those dispersed from the chaos the hope to keep going, no matter how bleak it might've looked. He brought barrels of water, baskets of fruits and produce that he had picked himself, and platters of fish and meats he hunted without waste. A provider to the people, they were grateful for everything that he did... for a while. Grumbling began to grow through the camp as morale continued to drop from the ever growing chaos, and the people looked to what they had as an indulgence to try and escape their harsh reality. "More Food! More Water! Hurry up! Give us more!". Their cries made him hurt, and so he did as they asked-but it was never enough. Soon it turned from grumbling to fear, believing that he had cooped them up here to domesticated, and fear turned to violence. It was not long before he was forced to flee, but was chased down and slain by those who gluttonized that which they were given. His Hope began to fade from his sight, as he died a traitors death while serving his people diligently.
Kaley's joy radiated through many people's lives in the past. While they embraced the happiness and warm feeling she brought, the chaos shattered everything she had built up. There was no murder, no violence to her person. Everywhere she went fear and sadness held-and every time she brought a solemn happiness to others, the joy she held so dear fell further and further away. As she walked to try and find that fleeting peace that was so rare within the wilds she came upon a beach, defiled with the cadavers of dozens of innocent bodies. Mostly children and elders, it appears these people who had committed such a grave sin wanted to shed some proverbial weight from the ration and housing pile... leaving nothing but a mess of blood and guts upon the beachside. Here, the Joy that Kaley felt, what little she had left-shattered into a million pieces, and she walked into the great, endless sea... hoping to find a salvation beneath the waves that never came for her.
Time passed as each aspect fell, and each person within the wilds gave in to greed and gluttony and wrath. The sins and vile feelings unleashed by creation of death disgusted and harmed every part of Arvora's being to where she physically began to wilt. Losing the will to move on, she slowly lost every shred of hope and joy that she once felt at her home she had created by her own hands. The kindness she instilled into the people, and the ways of life that gave them such unwavering faith in her now lay decimated beneath the feet of murderous bandits and rioters as they approached the
Janziyo (World Tree) that rested at the center of the wilds. Her children scattered to the winds, the small sect of Ascended who retained faith saw the oncoming horde and evacuated with the other staff.
All but one.
And when Arvora looked upon the soul of the being who was to inevitably die, she choked on her tears and sorrow, crumbling to the floor in one final act of total defeat. This last being, this last form that protected her home that she should rightfully help, turned out to be an apprentice doctor whom was a teenage fey from the winter court, and the fifth and final child that Vassas has ordered her to turn her back on so long ago.
Thalia, the aspect of Faith. Better known in the present as Foli, the Mad Goddess.
| The World of Aethius • The Multiverse of Aethier |
