Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)

[The Kingpin]

Ceridwen had no response to that, falling silent as she considered what Cleotaire had said. It had never occurred to her that she took the very earth she stood on for granted. She had no reason not to, until now. It was there. It existed to provide, and she took what she needed to sate her needs; she took of its fish to sate her hunger, its water to slake her thirst, and its soft grassy earth to rest her weary eyes after every day of her life for as far back as she could remember. The thought of owing it anything in return never crossed her mind.

"The desert folk always did have a penchant for the poetic. It seems to be a result of living in such a barren place," commented Septimus thoughtfully. "How long ago was this? Before the Thimeyrans came to the desert, or after?" he inquired.

[C S]

"After the first iteration of their walls were built, the Thimeyrans were set on finding 'the one who danced'. Raquel'adhi, the name they knew me by. As far as I know, it has fallen into obscurity, and 'The Life Bringer' has taken its place after the pact was made," Cleotaire replied. "And so it remains."

In his way, Desrium paid silent attention to the implications of the elemental's words. Compelled by a greater good, she had done great services for the desert people, while at the same time, she denied herself the simple reassurance of having a friend. The concept of gratitude was one she clearly understood, but was apparently uncomfortable with due to the innumerable years she spent adhering to her role.

Elementals, unlike life derived from ley, were truly eternal beings. Whereas races seen as immortals showed the wear of years in their sensibilities and faculties, those like Cleotaire and this thunderbird retained full command of their mentalities. With a mind and body that did not decay, the desert queen had simply grown used to how things were.

Until she met Septimus and himself.

Uncanny.

[The Kingpin]

"I see...I cannot help but wonder if any Thimeyrans yet live that recall those days," rumbled the Scholar ponderously. It was always a surreal thought for a Hueilin to consider the times that preceded them. Even at a young age, Hueilin were, by virtue of their immortality, out of tune with time; a fact contributed to in no small part by the isolation of Drakhunmiir, where even the seasons blurred into one another under the influence of the mana well. It stood as a testament to that lack of context that Septimus had trouble wrapping his head around the idea of elves older than not only himself or his parents, but potentially older than a couple of his grandparents. It was no easier now than it had been when Buruq told him the history of the ancestral Hueilin. Perhaps, in some funny, yet predictable way, this was how Desrium felt that fateful day in Zuppoland, where he learned to grasp a sense of time at large from its smaller components. But while Desrium was learning the scale of time anew then, Septimus was already aware. It was no less difficult to perceive the weight of time despite that knowledge.

Another thing that he had trouble digesting was the thought of spending all that time in one place, surrounded by the same scenery and keeping no company than the earth around oneself. It was so difficult to accept as a possibility that he found himself unable to resist the urge to ask. "Have you ventured beyond the desert since those days?"

[C S]

Desrium figured that Faruq was one of the few remaining desert elves who held the knowledge that Septimus ruminated over. He was the Storyteller, and would continue this legacy until he could not relay his stories any longer. After that, it was a question of where on the spectrum, between Buruq and Morialus, would he fall. The fate of all with uncapped lifespans. Even his.

Cleotaire went on speaking as though her perceptions of one's innermost persuasions did not carry over through the Eye's link. Desrium doubted this was the case, if the Eyes were made from fragments of her being. "No," was her plain response to Septimus. "But I have seen much before the desert became what it is now. And I will see what this desert may one day become."

She chuckled. The listening mage raised a brow, getting the distinct sense that Cleotaire was privy to something she and the others were not.

"As will you, if you live to see it. Perhaps then, you will truly learn what it is to be timeless."

Is this what it means to experience entropy of the mind, Desrium wondered wordlessly. Cleotaire offered no answer to that question. One of those matters that required one to brave the desert to speak with her in person.

[The Kingpin]

"Sometimes I wonder whether my ventures are destined to deny me that privilege," rumbled the Scholar thoughtfully. "Buruq tells me that our homeland of Syravoras is very different now from when he was there. Perhaps the same will be said for Aster, one day in the distant future," he mused.

"That qudumaruuv is probably as old as Syravoras itself. I'd be surprised if things hadn't changed since he was there," twittered the dragoness beside the Scholar, earning her a sidelong look, but nothing more.

[C S]

Syria patted Septimus on the back of his neck comfortingly, though she had no response to what he had said. It was no secret that she shared the same concerns, but was no less guilty than he when it came to purposely going forth into danger. Again, Cleotaire did not address it when she said, "It is a certainty that Aster will change in the far future. In what specific ways, I am not privy to. But it will not be alone in this. This entire world will change by the machinations of the people living on it, and the primordials living deep within it, in their own worlds."

"Worlds within a world?" Desrium inquired.

"The hollow spaces, the Olden Realm. The former domain of earth and air, resigned to fire after the first strife."

Desrium made a hum that sounded very close to an 'Ah'. "The depths beneath land and sea, then."

"A region of Leyuna as close to the lines as any would dare to be, though you must be aware that even that deep down, the primordials are still far removed from the web left by those eight."

"Any further would lead to one being unmade," Desrium recalled. Absently, though there was no indication of the fleeting nature of the thought.

Cleotaire quieted for a moment, then shared a lament that was not wholly somber, "Many of the firstborn are not with us today. The ones without form found the ley lines especially tempting, and went down towards the captured sun. Their destruction was felt and shared amongst my kind. Their last memories. After enough of them died, it was well kept knowledge that none were meant to reach the lines, and so none have tried since. For the better."

Desrium hummed again. It was unlikely that anyone would meet a truly primordial form of elemental in the modern era; an ancient mana-born. Their descendants remained, on the other hand. "Magic elementals are even more primal than those. They are born of mana, and thus are vastly more varied. Some of them don't seem to belong in this world. They possess incredible power and can manifest it in ways that make even you look small."

And they could produce offspring with other forms of life, which Rhuriel and Evisa stood as testament to.

[The Kingpin]

"So this captured sun is the place the lines draw from?" asked the Scholar, intrigued. He had thought the sun a powerful source of energy. The studies of scholars throughout the ages had confirmed that plants needed the sun to live, and from that, it was easily inferred that the entire world relied on its warmth, its light. Was this other world within their world fed by this trapped sun just as the world above was fed by the sun in the heavens?

[C S]

"Unfortunately, there are some questions I do not know the answer to. The true nature of the captured sun and the acts of the gods are incomprehensible to me," Cleotaire replied.

"Too far down for exploration, and dangerous still for those who call the realm beneath home," Desrium stated in brief. The projection of the desert queen nodded.

"It could be that Leyuna, and all the other worlds in the sky, are just failed suns, encapsulated by atmospheres of rock and otherwise for their inability to shine with the other stars. Only the gods could know for sure how they came into being."

Syria chuckled softly. "At the end of the day, no matter how much you search, there are bound to be some questions with answers along the line of 'only gods know', huh?"

[The Kingpin]

"Until the day comes when we figure out how to observe it," responded the Scholar lowly. It was a curious thought, facing the unknown and being unable to quantify or describe it. Something that went against his very nature.

It was also a very real complication of this peculiar world he lived in. He had unravelled the nature of entropy. He had mastered the secrets of cold and of that mighty force observed in lightning, and yet, he still had no idea what lay at the level of the ley lines that made them so deadly.

And it drove him mad.

[C S]

"Observe it? Observe the..." Syria felt some trepidation to continue. It was easy for her to accept that the being she'd heard of, that which allowed Desrium to save Tyrbenetus, was unimaginably powerful. It disturbed her to then equate it to being the god of the known realm. One, where there were once eight, and separate from all Leyuna knew of its divines. "Observe the go-"

"No matter how far we go into the future, some ambitions will need to be curbed," Desrium said with decisive timing. "Some things are better left unknown, and undisturbed."

"Be wary of the trap that is hypothetical thinking; the people of this world discovered the utility of the wheel and the method to forge metals, and there is much more yet to discover. As you know from experience, sometimes results can only be achieved through a little faith," Cleotaire stated, to Syria's relief. It appeared that for all of Septimus' yearning for expanded horizons, Desrium was ever cautious of the consequences of them. Balance in all things, but a tense balance as a result.

[The Kingpin]

"I was referring to the captured sun, but that is fair. There must always be boundaries to what one seeks. The search of knowledge unchecked is as dangerous as wilful ignorance. Perhaps more so. There are such individuals among my own kind. I do not intend to fall into their mistakes," conceded the Scholar.

"What are they like?" asked Ceridwen, head tilting to one side with an avian curiosity. Realising she'd just made the same mistake Septimus had, she clarified, "The oldest elementals, I mean."

[C S]

The image of Cleotaire brought her elbows into her lap and cupped her chin in her hands. "They are simple minds that lend themselves nicely to lethargic bodies. I think them to have gotten wiser with age, but they are nevertheless dangerously brutish when provoked. When provoked, they cease to be lethargic, as your other companions have been informed. If you have a careful eye, you may see the remnants of the old wars. Some of them have been unknowingly been repurposed for shelter."

Syria blinked a couple of times. From a feeling she couldn't place, it struck her that the Life Bringer was referring to the Boldrim. It would certainly explain why the peaks formed that peculiar ringed shape, and why the highest perch was claimed by the thunderbird... but was Cleotaire referring to it, or the people of Daaven?

Cleotaire made no motion to shed light on these inquiries. Syria, not wanting to make unfounded conclusions from the enigmatic qualities of the desert queen, left her curiosities unspoken.

[The Kingpin]

"Remnants of the old wars?" questioned Ceridwen. It was quite apparent she knew nothing of the most ancient elementals. Up to til this conversation, she had thought the Thunderbird to be the most ancient of those beings.

"I have read tales of distant places in Aster where the land looked to have once been alive. Dwarven fortresses carved into once living stone, or elvish empires that had grown out of a heart of a massive tree. I had thought them to be speaking figuratively, but now that you say this, I think I may have misunderstood. I will have to go back and read into their references," responded the Scholar.

[C S]

Cleotaire chuckled deeply. "It can be difficult to discern what is elemental, and what is enchanted, through secondhand sources," she said. "More so, with the tendency for accounts to be embellished. Even I am subject to this."

[The Kingpin]

"That is very true," admitted the Scholar with a measure of disappointment. "Another thing I will have to rectify with regards to scholastic literature. Impartiality," he considered, adding that to the mental list of requirements for his future works. "I must say I have enjoyed this conversation, Cleotaire. But I believe it may be time for me to say my farewells for now. There are some matters that need attending to before Beshayir concludes her day's lessons. But please do keep in touch when the mood strikes you. I would hate for you to feel you had to wait for us to contact you," he offered, smiling amicably, though he considered later that she may or may not be able to see it through the Eye. He had never thought about it.

[C S]

"When the mood strikes me," Cleotaire repeated, "I fear that will not be an occasion for... friendliness, but one of action."

"Is that another purpose for the Eyes? So that you may rally heroes to aid in crisis?" Syria broached with earnest, as though she had solved a puzzle.

Cleotaire shook her decorated head. "They are a means for a ruler to be in touch with the wisdom outside of his court. No, in my case, there is very little that makes its way down to my chambers. I enjoy a state of static normalcy I believe you roaming adventurers will find dull. But if you do not mind it being so, then I will... talk." She paused.

"When the mood strikes me," she echoed once more, literally, as her likeness faded from view.

[The Kingpin]

No sooner had Cleotaire departed than Ceridwen's head swivelled in the direction of the Scholar. In a tone as inquisitive as it was accusative, she chirped, "Just how many of your friends are relics from the birth of the world?"

"Now now, Ceridwen. There's no cause to be rude. For the timeless, age is a strength," rumbled the Son of Storms with a smirk. "But, to answer your question, I have... Five. Five close ones, at least. Cleotaire, Buruq, Sanguine, Ghul, Si'lu. All old beings. Some hundreds of thousands of years old, some billions. Cleotaire is most likely the most ancient of them all, however. And her wisdom shows in that. Granted, Buruq's wisdom can appear in ways you do not expect," he stated matter-of-factly.

[C S]

"Sanguine's role in anchoring Moria's army in the Justicar's absence speaks to the caliber of a leader he has been. And it was Ghul that reminded me to keep fighting at the hour that all seemed lost for Tyrbenetus." Desrium added.

"I don't think anyone knows how old the thunderbird really is, but I think it's up there with the others," said Syria. "So... six?"

[The Kingpin]

"There was one very old Hueilin I met in a cavern city to the north west. I couldn't tell you how old, because I never learned his name, and I never learned his clan. But the state he was in when I found him seemed to imply incredible age. That, or whatever got him exiled withered his body in unspeakable ways," explained the Scholar. The thought that it was some bizarre battle scar; a curse of some sort, did not cross his mind for more than a moment when he had contemplated the question. The ancient hermit would have been much more reclusive and defensive, given his apparent mental state at the time. It was a mystery.

[C S]

"I gave him the name Geezerbro because he could not recall his own," Desrium replied. Proceeding to rise to his feet, he said, "I doubt he remains with us, unfortunately. The Two Cities are no more, and in the ruins was where I found the young ones."

Syria was shaken by the thought of a city -- two cities -- turned to rubble. If an ancient dragon was to be counted among the casualties, then how many people could have survived a disaster like that? The lady was forced to suppress a gasp with a hand over her mouth before she could ask, "Did... they...?"

"No. The young elementals took refuge in the cavern; they did not lay waste to it, of that I am sure. Responsibility lies on something else yet unknown." And that was the uncertainty that Desrium had to wrangle in his thoughts. Any number of sequences could have led to the devastation. A wild titan roused to violence, a force triggered by the upheaval, like what befell Crestvale, and so on. Recent developments shed an even more troubling light on the loss of the Two Cities.