Gold Moon Rising (Story)
In Literature
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Credit: MysteriousShine
She was the most beautiful grifix I'd ever met.
Her clothes were exquisite - tailored from botanical fabrics, something few in the Empire could afford. Due to the freezing cold and scarce sunlight, plants could only be grown magically, making them a rarity. Only the most high ranking grifix could obtain plant-based goods. But Rene didn't seem that high-ranking. While her clothes were clearly made of botanical fabrics, they were old, carefully maintained but worn. She probably hadn't had access to new fabrics for a long while. Perhaps she'd once had connections within the Herbalists' Guild that granted her access to such fabrics.
I heard her voice before I had a chance to lay my eyes on her, and from her first words, she had me mesmerized. She spoke softly and with odd precision, her tone always slightly formal, even when she spoke to her own sphirix. Her vocabulary was more cultured than most grifix in the Empire - she used words and phrases reminiscent of ancient books in the Eclipse Tower library, those written long before the Great Cataclysm. It almost felt like she was reciting some old text. Her strange accent set her apart from the grifix living on this side of the Empire - clearly, she came from the higher districts, near the Eclipse Tower.
So what was she doing here, in this laborers' district? She didn't fit in. The other grifix were polite and friendly to her, but she stood apart, alone most of the time.
Later, I learned she was a scholar of magic studies, taking residence in the tailors' district for academic reasons.
She would come to the temple now and then, confessing everything she'd done. I heard so many things I could not believe from her. Her life was truly sacrilegious. The lengths she'd gone to for the sake of knowledge left me speechless. The fact that her actions went unpunished by the gods could only mean there were no gods out there - or that she was one.
I was the High Priest of the Eclipse Cult, serving in the Great Temple of Eclipsa. Revered as the founder of the Empire and creator of the Eclipse Tower, Eclipsa's temple was one of the grandest in the Empire. It stood north of the Tailors' District, near the border of the Entertainment District and the lower guilds of the higher district at the foot of the Eclipse Tower. The temple's placement ensured a constant stream of hundreds of parishioners each moon.
The temple employed dozens of monks and priestesses to ensure proper running of the daily rituals. Mistakes were undesirable with so many eyes watching.
I heard many confessions in my life, from the parishioners, or the monks and priestesses of the temple, but Rene's were unlike any others.
As the High Priest of the Eclipse cult I could see grifix's sphirix when they neared death. Most grifix perceive only their own, but from the moment I met Rene, I saw hers - a glowing, sage-colored snake coiled around her neck. It was such a beautiful, elegant sphirix. Her magic would wind and swirl around him at every movement, his soft subtle light just barely reflected on her cheek when she carried him around her shoulders.
Every glimpse of him was a reminder.
She was beautiful, even in her final moments. And I did everything in my power to save her.
"I fear that which I am about to do to you, my sphirix…"
"But it will grant us the power we need…"
"We'll be able to surpass the limits imposed on our magic by the heavens…"
"It might just be enough to salvage her soul."
One last struggle, an attempt at self sacrifice in order to save her - but it was all for nothing…
If I could claw back through time, I'd sever my own hands before they performed that ritual. The pain, as my soul was violently ripped apart and gilded in this unnatural gold shell…… I gained power beyond that of any regular grifix, but at what cost?
My pain was unbearable, but I can't even begin to imagine the pain that the little infant must have felt.
You see… the Night Realm demanded a sacrifice in exchange for this power. And I, drowned in my own madness, deemed it a fair price.
✦
The Frozen Empire is a vast place, little one. You've probably seen the top of it - the Eclipse Tower, providing light in the midst of the arctic night, towering immense and dark above the entire Empire. And then the light teal shine encasing everything - such eerie light, unlike that which comes from the Eclipse Tower, always there. Your sphirix probably told you what it is: the giant harpy sphirix, its enormous body engulfing the entire Frozen Empire, providing us with warmth in the eternal arctic winter. Its wings stretch across the sky, its feathers' pulsing glow dimming the light of the stars - though no grifix has ever glimpsed its true form. You'll never see it, but sphirix can see each other, so you heard about it from yours.
Then there's the Twelve Guilds and the grifix who work for them. Those who are part of a guild are taken care of. Everything they need is provided for them. The Merchants' Guild ensures that whatever the Empire requires is available: food, materials, clothes - you name it. We may use money, but it's merely a formality most of the time. As long as one is part of a guild, they can live the rest of their life happily without a coin to their name.
But there are things below that you wouldn't normally know, things most grifix go through their whole lives without learning of. Grifix who are not part of guilds - outcasts, those wronged by the Empire.
Born outside of a guild, one could hardly hope to be accepted into one. Sometimes they just don't want to give up the only life they know… Perhaps they cling to the hope that someone they once lost… might come back.
The glimmer of gold caught the little grifix's eye. Could it be wealth, or food? They needed both. So Raven gave chase.
The glow of the Eclipse Tower did not reach down here - but she followed the golden rat's glow through the narrow sewers, through puddles of sludge. Her older sister, Noctet, ran behind her, her sphirix close behind. She called and begged for Raven to stop, but the little rascal wasn't one to listen. Why would she give up prey when they hadn't eaten in days?
The two used to loiter around the Tailors' Guild Merchant Neighborhood Office - where all the tailors collected their daily rations. They were free to take their food home, but most opted to eat there at the tables with other tailors. It was a good opportunity to socialize and catch up with their peers. Raven and Noctet would wait close by, and ask for any leftovers. Sometimes they stole small things to sell to merchants for a few coins. It wasn't much but usually they were able to get by.
Lately, however, Noctet had grown increasingly paranoid of the world above. She refused to leave the sewers unless desperate, insisting they hunt below instead. Sure, there were plenty of rats - until the rats learned to avoid them. Now they were lucky to catch one every few days.
So Noctet's pleas were futile. This rat was golden. Why would Raven let it go? Besides, she couldn't stop if she tried. She was hypnotized. The glow of the rat pulled her closer. It was like it promised something Raven never had.
The one piece of her that was missing.
Her sphirix.
Raven had never had one, unlike her sister or other grifix. She didn't know why; Noctet always refused to talk about it. So Raven learned not to ask. But she couldn't help noticing how all the grifix were put off by her - even more than they were at the sight of a guildless grifix. They were scared of her. When they saw her, they always clung in distress to something Raven couldn't see - their sphirix, she assumed. And then her sister would reach for her hand and leave as quickly as she could. She did not want their attention.
She was now right behind the rat. Just a paw's reach away. A reach away from food, wealth, or something else.
"Raven, don't you touch that thing!!" Her sister let out a desperate call. Her voice trembled with genuine fear. The rat was no stranger to her. She'd met it before.
Raven's claw grazed the gold, as its glow was getting stronger, ever more hypnotizing. Promising something Raven was always told she was missing.
But before she could sink her claws in its neck and snap it like she did with so many others, something shoved her aside. She tumbled to the ground, through the moist sludge, and when she looked up, Noctet stood where she'd been, trembling. The rat was nowhere to be seen, but a golden glow came from Noctet's chest, and her breath was shaking.
Fear finally started to sink into Raven. Something was awfully wrong, and her sister knew it from the moment they saw the rat, but Raven hadn't listened to her.
It was then that she heard the footsteps behind them. They were close, they were probably there before the chase began. But Raven was too distracted to notice the three males luring in the dark. The tallest, a grifix in dark long robes, gripped a staff shaped like an eclipsed sun.
"Tsk, he's done it now, the abomination!" he sneered. "Did you think hiding in a child's gems would spare you? Do you think I'll take pity on her, you lowly creature? Of course you don't, you know I won't."
He then wove his paw at the others - guards, wearing colorful tunics. The taller held a spear; the shorter, a sword curved like a crescent moon. They seized Noctet's shoulders, ensuring she wouldn't run away. Not like she would try to. She only lifted her head, whispering with a trembling voice:
"Run Raven, run!"
The dark silhouette of the Eclipse Tower loomed over the Empire's dark narrow streets. Raven was familiar with it - this wasn't her first time outside. But it was the first time she'd ventured out alone. She and Noctet had always been together. But now they were apart, for the first time in her life.
When other grifix looked strangely at her, when they treated her like a freak for not having a sphirix, Raven didn't understand why. How could she miss something she'd never known?
Or so she'd thought. Now, separated from her sister, the loneliness was crushing her.
"It won't be for long," she told herself. She'd follow the dark grifix in robes and save her sister, then beat up those meanies who took her away.
She trailed them gliding from roof to roof, using her magic to almost fly when needed. She hid under the cover of the arctic night, watching the robed grifix and guards march Noctet through the narrow paths of the Tailors District, until the streets started to open up a bit, leaving room for slightly different buildings. The architecture seemed somewhat older, with tall towers reaching up for the full moon in the sky.
There it was, the Temple of the Eclipse Cult. Looming larger than any nearby building, it explained the clothing of those who captured her sister - clerics of the Eclipse Cult. The grifix in dark robes must've been a priest of the Eclipse Cult.
What could they possibly want with her sister?
Raven had never been so close to this temple, her sister had always seemed weary of it. As the group disappeared inside, Raven settled on a nearby roof to watch and wait for her sister to return outside, or an opportunity to sneak in.
The hours passed, as the full moon rose higher, its light turning golden. Yet Raven kept her eyes fixed on the temple gates. She knew her sister would return - Noctet would never abandon her. And sure enough, Noctet walked out calmly through the temple's columns, alone.
Raven's tail flicked. "I knew she could handle them!" she thought. After all, her sister was remarkable; nobody could hold her for long. But something was different. Noctet's old rugged clothes - the faded crimson dress and patchy cape that did not fit her quite right - had been replaced. Now she wore a new gown embroidered with intricate patterns, like those of the Eclipse Cult's priestesses, and a darker, finer cape.
Raven shoved the questions aside and dropped from the roof, sprinting toward Noctet, arms outstretched for a hug - but her sister stepped back, a raised paw halting her mid-step.
"I knew you'd follow, Raven," She said. "But I'm not leaving. I must serve the Temple now. I'm to become a priestess of the Eclipse Cult."
Raven's eyes widened, she could not believe her sister's words. But she knew one thing, and that she wanted to be where Noctet was.
"I wanna stay! Make me a priestess too!"
"No Raven, you can't. You need to get away."
Such words, coming from her own sister? Raven could not understand. Why would she ever want them to be apart?
"This place is dangerous. I'm doing this to protect you."
Noctet should've known not to say that. To little Raven, it was an invite to prove herself. She did not need to be protected! She was every bit as strong as Noctet, if anything, she was going to protect her instead!
The little one backed off - but only to give the impression that she would listen. As soon as Noctet disappeared inside, Raven crept after her, pressing herself against the cold temple walls like a shadow.
She expected to have a harder time hiding from people, temples were often busy places, full of crowds, noise, the usual temple bustle. But this place was empty, dust coating the floors. It wasn't until she'd gone deep inside that she spotted anyone: the priest.
Raven ducked behind a column, her heart hammering loud. She didn't know what convinced Noctet to stay, but he was to blame. What nasty magic could he have used to make Noctet so afraid?
She'd follow. She'd find out. She'd make him pay and get her sister back!
Silent as a thief, she trailed him. It felt like the old days when she and Noctet would trail the rich folk who came to purchase luxury garments from the Tailors Guild. They'd wait for the right moment and strike! Running away with jewelry or other riches.
Except this time, she was alone. It did not feel as good…
The priest descended through a doorway, down stairs that led under the temple. Then he walked through tunnels made of pointed arches, lined with doors rusted shut. They probably led to rooms where the temple staff used to live - but now they were empty. Many looked like they hadn't been opened in years.
Deeper they went, and the doors grew more sparse.
Then the priest stopped before a side entrance, a golden light shining from within.
Raven climbed up one of the columns that were holding the arches, hoping to get a better view of what conspired inside the room, while being concealed by the ceiling's ribs. Through the archway she could see animals caged, golden, shimmering, just like the rat who started it all. There was a magpie, a manta ray, a mantis, a giant frog and a snake, and they all looked like they were made entirely of gold.
The priest fiddled with locks, muttering:
"Tonight, at last… After moons of preparation… The rat's escape would've been catastrophic, as the golden eclipse won't repeat for decades! But no matter - he failed to escape me. So count your blessings, for tonight, the ritual will obliterate your souls, and unless the rat abandons that little beggar's body… hers too."
Raven's body turned cold as ice. Her balance was gone for a moment, just enough for her hoof to slip and send a piece of stone to the ground. The priest's head snapped up, and he swarmed off to find the source of the sound. He passed so close beneath her she could see the disheveled feathers on his head. But he didn't look up.
When his footsteps faded, Raven dropped down and sneaked into the golden room.
There was no light source in the small room, but the animals gave off a soft golden glow. The magpie, confined in a far-too-small birdcage, turned towards Raven, blinking with intrigue, as the gold-gilded tips of her feathers brushed over the bars of the cage, producing a soft clinking sound. The others, kept in bigger cages with stylized botanical ornaments, seemed to look at her with both hope and resentment. The frog's throat pulsed silently, as if choking on a warning. The manta ray floated quietly in its tank that left little room for any movement, especially for such a big animal. The mantis tipped its head to the side as it approached the side of its cage, almost reaching for the little grifix.
But Raven approached the golden snake. His eyes seemed to follow her with such intelligence, as if he understood her, and then his voice spoke in her mind:
"Release us, little one. It is the sole means to stop him. Should but a single one among us get away, he shall be unable to perform this dreadful ritual - and your sister shall be safe."
Raven flicked her tail nervously. She didn't question how the snake knew why she was there. Enchanted by his voice, she rose on the tips of her hooves and reached her paw high for the cage door, snapping the lock with her claw.
But the priest returned, looming behind her - and this time there was nobody to push her away. He snatched her up and dragged her away against her struggles. She hissed and puffed, clawed and bit at his arm, but the thick fabric of his robe rendered her efforts useless.
All she could do was watch as the snake slipped beneath the furniture, vanishing before the priest could do anything to stop him.
Now she'd done it. She'd gotten herself caught by the priest, thrown in a dungeon cage just like the golden animals. And the moon was already so high up, its golden light shining through the bars of the window. How could she escape in time to save her sister?
The dungeon reeked of mold - it reminded her of the sewers. Strange. Her sister always described temples as tidy, well-kept places. This one looked nothing like that. But since she's only spotted the priest all this time, it must mean there was nobody else in the temple to take care of it. The priest seemed like a very unpleasant person, perhaps they all got driven away. She couldn't blame them; she wouldn't want to endure him daily either.
No wonder Noctet had warned her to avoid this temple.
"You seem troubled, little one," murmured a voice beside her. "But you freed me. Without me, the ritual cannot proceed."
The snake? Raven's eyes widened.
"Your mind swarms with questions… In gratitude for my freedom, I shall answer."
Raven could only think of one question to ask: "Is my sister safe?"
"She will not perish tonight, but neither will she be well. The rat hides within her - their bodies and minds entwined. The priest needs the rat, so while it remains so, he will not release her."
"Come," said the snake, slithering towards the gate, that stood miraculously open. "It is time to depart. I see you wonder about us golden sphirix… I shall enlighten you as we go."
"The rat was the foremost among us. He is the priest's own sphirix - turned to gold in pursuit of a greater power. His magic surpasses that of any common sphirix. A single touch suffices to turn any lingering soul to gold."
"I retained barely a flicker of life when I was turned to gold. The others? Merely phantoms lingering around the Empire - pitifully easy prey for the priest."
"Through us, the priest seeks to open a gate to the Night Realm - the domain where grifix souls, in the shape of the sphirix, remain after death. That is the purpose of the ritual."
"Yet the rat agrees not with the priest's ambition. The ritual would trap our souls in stone for eternity - bereft of motion, of feeling until the end of time. Or perhaps those will be just remaining stone casings of our obliterated souls. Nobody knows the true outcome of the ritual. Thus did the rat flee, desperate to put an end to this madness."
The snake led her through the tunnels back to the surface - but as he slithered onto the pavement, a tile lit up beneath him, trapping him in place. Frantically, he struggled to no avail.
After all these years, the snake's naivety was his downfall. How could he not have expected this? That was why the priest hadn't pursued him after his escape - he knew the snake would lead Raven outside, and had planned accordingly.
Raven rushed to free the snake, but the two guards seized her. As she glared up, she saw Noctet cowering behind the priest who was smiling, so proud of himself.
"No! You promised! You swore you'd leave her alone!" Noctet begged, eyes wide with fear.
"Apologies little one, I had no choice. She knew too much." The priest tried to shake her off, yet she would not let go.
"You liar! I won't do it if you don't let her go!"
"Fool. You must comply - or you'll never see the sphirix again."
How could this be? All this time, her sister had been conspiring with the priest. And what was that about Noctet's sphirix - how could it be gone?
"Noctet! Don't! He's lying!" Raven cried out, a final, desperate plea.
But Noctet wouldn't meet her eyes.
"Resume the ritual," she spoke, her voice barely a whisper. The betrayal carved deeper than any claw. Her sister had chosen the priest over her.
So long… too long had the priest waited to see her face again. Now the beggar would walk the path for him. She will take the rat to the end of the ritual and sacrifice him so the priest might enter the Night Realm and retrieve his long lost lover!
At last, all pieces were in place and the moon rose high. Soon Earth's shadow would swallow its golden disc, and the boundary between the worlds will be thin enough for him to pierce through!
Noctet made her way to the first pillar, and magic fueled by the moon blasted from her gems, turning the magpie to stone, as its shriek of despair pierced the night.
Drained, Noctet kneeled down. She hadn't expected such pain, but she had to keep going - five more pillars remained.
"No!! Stop! You're hurting her!!!" Raven'cried out, her eyes filled with tears of fear for her sister's life.
"Yes! Emerge, coward!" the priest roared, twisting Raven's words. "Walk the path yourself - spare the child this agony!"
But the rat gave no reply. So Noctet staggered onward, reaching for the other pillars. The pain was unbearable, but she had to do it.
She approached the second pillar and the frog turned to stone. Then the mantis. As she approached the fourth pillar, her frail child body could no longer take the pain, and she crumpled to the ground, to her little sister's despair.
"Stop this at once, Frey!" A soft female voice cut through Raven's sobs and hisses as she desperately tried to free herself. The priest froze when he heard it. His own name, in her voice…
"You fool! How dare you do this in my name! You claim it will bring me back, yet I've been here all along!"
The priest's gaze snapped to the snake - their eyes locked together, the serpent speaking so clearly directly into his mind with her voice:
"Just because my body withered away… you refuse to acknowledge the remaining presence of my soul…"
Yes, that was right. The snake was Rene's sphirix… Her very soul… He was her. How could he have forgotten?
"End this now. You know I won't be found on the other side… that I've always been here… even as you refused to see."
Her voice took him back, back so many years… Memories washing over him, feelings he avoided remembering, for they would remind him who she really was… And he knew all too well she would hate him for what he had become.
He'd first known her as just a voice behind the confessional curtain, talking about all the things she did and the wonders she uncovered in her studies. The priest had never before heard such heresy.
And then she told him she was dying. It must be divine punishment, he thought. But he was not there to judge. He just listened to her voice, lost in the wonderful things she described.
He then met her at mass, and she formally introduced herself: a scholar of magic studies, living close by the Entertainment District, a place so full of sin that even the rules of magic no longer applied, and the boundary between realities was thinning. She had paid the greatest price just to have a glimpse of the other side, that which in the old scriptures is named "the Night Realm."
And yet, he thought, why would a sinner like her get to glimpse at the gods while he who had served them all his life was just as close to them as anyone?
The more time he spent with her, the more he started to doubt his initial thought. Maybe she was no sinner, but an apparition sent by the gods to guide him toward them. Her beauty… to him it felt otherworldly. Her whole existence made no sense to him. No ordinary grifix would sacrifice themselves the way she did. She made no sense to him. He sometimes thought there was no way she could be real, yet she was so fragile, withering right in front of him, and he was powerless to save her.
And before he knew it, she was gone. And he was no closer to the gods. Why would they tempt him with such knowledge, why would they give her to him only to take her away so soon?
It must've been a test. She must have been a goddess, and this was merely her mortal form. She must be waiting for him on the other side. His sacred duty was clear - to keep seeking her, open the gates to the Night Realm, and bring salvation to the grifix kind.
And he would do just that. He would find her one way or another.
✦
"But… I need the power… to reach you…" The priest crumpled to the floor, eyes looking up as if he actually saw her in front of him.
"Stop lying to yourself," the snake demanded. " You know that it's not true, that's why you… the rat, ran away."
"When was it that I lost my faith, my belief… When was it that the hope of prayer was replaced by this despair… this loneliness… even when I was still with her, I had already lost it all…"
All strength to keep going was gone. A whole world of conviction crumbled inside of him.
Through it all, Noctet kept dragging herself across the temple tiles. The fourth pillar lit up, and the manta ray's psychic scream tore through every mind, followed by Noctet's own shriek as all magic was drained from her body. Shadows raced across the moon, now nearly swallowed by Earth's shadow.
Raven couldn't bear it anymore. With the guards distracted, she broke free and stumbled to her sister's side.
"Come out, rat! Stop making her do this!"
At last, the rat emerged from Noctet's unconscious body.
"Free at last!" he mumbled.
"You devil! Look what you did to her…" Raven cried.
"I never forced her, little one. I hid in her gems in fear of the priest - but that gave her access to my mind as it gave me access to hers. Once she read my memories… She refused to let me leave, and she trapped me inside of her. All this time I wished to leave, but couldn't. Now that her magic was drained so much… She could no longer hold me in."
"You liar!" the little one cried out in denial, before succumbing to it.
How could Noctet do that to her? Why? The two had always been together, and happy! Raven could not understand. Quietly, she sobbed at her unconscious sister's head.
It was then that the tile around the snake flared up, and his cries echoed into Raven's mind. She turned in terror to face the snake - how could this be? The one friend she made was now turning to stone, and in front of him stood a golden owl.
She never saw it before, but she knew right away who the owl was. She'd asked her sister multiple times to describe it - she was Noctet's sphirix, Nanna. Now she stood there in front of Raven, gilded in gold, facing the snake as the tile flared up around him with magic.
"Nanna! No!" Raven desperately called out the Owl's name. She couldn't understand why her sister would go to such lengths.
"Raven… I can no longer bear to be Noctet's sphirix. She hates me. But if I open the portal… If I bring your sphirix back from the Night Realm… then perhaps she will forgive me."
Was that what it was about all along? Not Noctet's, but Raven's sphirix..?
Noctet's eyes opened, and she reached her paw up to cup Raven's face. With a soft, shaking voice she explained:
"It was… A regular day for us. Mother was… nowhere to be found. Haven't seen her since but back then she would be on and off. I used to have to carry you around, but I was barely big enough to do so… I was just begging people for food as usual when he approached us on the street. He told me he could give us a good meal and some shelter for the night so naively, I followed him to Eclipsa's Temple.
He gave us food and shelter alright. But he locked us in a room. No bars on the window or door, but it was no different from a cage. We had a bed, and he brought us food… And he spoke to me kindly, so I chose to believe that he wasn't going to harm us. He told me we could leave at any time, but if I ever tried to speak of leaving he would deflect the conversation and soon… it was clear he would not let us leave.
There was a low ranking priestess there, and she would sometimes bring us food. She seemed terrified of him, and she would look at us with such pity… I knew there was something wrong.
Then one morning I woke up and you were gone.
When she came to bring us food, I waited by the door and clawed her face so she wouldn't stop me. I ran through the door she opened and followed his smell through the tunnels.
And then I found you… Alone in one of the rooms… And you were crying. And Nanna… she told me…. that she couldn't see… your sphirix…. it was gone….
I managed to run away with you. For a while I thought your sphirix might come back, but it never did… Growing up without your sphirix… Because I was too weak to save it. I never forgave myself."
It is all too much for little Raven. Tears rushed behind her eyes. She could not hold it any longer.
"You did all of this… just to recover my sphirix? You were willing to die for it? How could you! I don't WANT my sphirix, I can't even remember it! Why won't you understand! Now I might lose you, and you're the only thing I ever missed! How dare you! How dare you try to take my sister away… You're willing to sacrifice your life and all these sphirix in order to gain something I never wanted to begin with… I don't want my sphirix back… I just want to be together with you…"
"I don't miss my sphirix… You do. Make up with her…"
Noctet looked at her gilded owl for the first time since she opened her eyes.
"Nanna… all this time… I blamed myself for Raven losing her sphirix… and I started to believe I didn't deserve one. I pushed you away, and now you've run away. All this time… I was trying to get away… from myself."
"I'm so sorry… Nanna… All this time… I've missed you so much…"
But the last pillar had been lit up, and the last scale of the snake turned to stone as the eclipse swallowed the moon. The shadow of the eclipse fell above the two girls and the owl, and Nanna's eyes glared up in terror. There was no more time to get away. The magic of the eclipse had found her in the right spot, and was about to take its sacrifice. She could feel her feet frozen in place. She was to become one with the stone the temple was made of - the last puzzle piece.
The ritual had been completed, and the portal began to open below them.
Spirits flew out, howling, screaming in fear. Light shadows of fading sphirix, forgotten souls were pouring out.
But Noctet was looking the other way, at the owl that stood between the pillars, now just a piece of stone. Tears welled in her eyes. She had resented her sphirix for so long… But she had always been by her side - when her mother was nowhere to be found, when she was locked in the Temple by the priest, when she was alone on the streets, taking care of her infant sister.
Then the spirits swarmed her. Their voices howled in her mind - becoming familiar: Raven's, Nanna's, and the priest's too. They blamed her for everything. She was the one who caused all that pain to Raven, she was the one who couldn't protect her and now she thought this would somehow make it better. But it was just so much worse.
They fed off her pain, leeching onto every doubt, every thought of self-blame, amplifying it. Confirming it. She felt her soul ripping apart - with every word, they tore away pieces of herself.
In the noise of it all, she could not distinguish the real voice of her sister, screaming, trying to push the spirits away. But then a blue light swept through. It cut through the spirits like a blade through cloth. Then they dispersed, setting her free. Raven collapsed into her, sobbing.
The priest stood before them, staff alight, gems blazing. The spirits fell silent, but soon their howling resumed. They swarmed in a storm of lights and magic, growing closer until they resembled a tall silhouette, so familiar to the priest - a female in a long skirt, her beautiful braided hair glowing with the beauty of a goddess.
The priest's determination fled his face. He looked up at her with terror and yearning.
"Rene… It truly is you… how could I have ever doubted…"
She stood unmoving, a vision of what he yearned for. But the longer he stared, the more the vision crumbled in his mind. She was there before him, yet he could not find her in what he saw.
"No… You're not her…"
The vision warped, sensing his doubt - eyes bulging, beaming light, mouth stretching wide to reveal fangs. The howls swelled, screaming unintelligible phrases in Rene's voice. Beams of magic erupted from the figure, the whole building starting to quake. Dust gathered on the walls started to rain down, and as the screaming grew louder, bits of rubble collapsed.
"In her journal… Rene dreamt of opening a portal between the worlds, uniting the grifix with the spirits of their relatives, shattering the boundaries between life and death… I hoped to do just that - bring her back and leave the portal open. But she must not have known what truly lies there. She was wrong." Admitting that hurt like a claw in his chest. The one he idolized so had made a mistake. His god was no longer absolute.
When the priest cut off his soul by turning it to gold, he had also lifted all bounds on his magic. His magic wasn't strong enough to bring back the dead, but it was strong enough to fight a hundred souls, if that was what he was meant to do. And against him they had no power. They could not consume him, for his soul was in the rat, and they could not reach it.
So he slashed the silhouette before him with his staff and shattered the illusion. The spirits scattered as his magic herded them toward the portal. He stood above the portal and pushed with all his might, yet they fought back, desperately struggling to regain their form. With one last push, they were gone into the spiraling light of the portal. With a swoop of his staff, the priest released all the animals from their stone shells, and the portal began to shrink.
But before it could fully close, a dark claw grasped his hoof.
"You are vile… unworthy of this world." A swarm of voices spoke from the other side. "Join us…" the voices whispered, dragging him after them.
And then the portal was gone, and so was he.
✦
"But you're still here!"
"Yes, little one. But I am not the same as before. My special powers are gone - I can no longer gild other sphirix. Now I'm just like the other golden animals. Which means…"
"The priest… he's gone…?"
"Yes."
"Then… What happened to the two sisters?"
"Eclipsa's Temple stood empty. No cleric would dare claim it - the priest's deeds terrified them all. But a temple cannot remain untended. So Noctet - though just a child - took his staff, vowing to cleanse its reputation and coax the clergy back. She became the new High Priestess of the Eclipse Temple. Raven became her apprentice, later a priestess in her own right, the snake now by her side. And in time… the halls echoed with voices again."
Raven and Noctet
Having a beggar for a mother, they were born on the streets, and that is the only life they ever knew.
They never joined a guild, and were alone on the streets for most of their life after their mother suddenly vanished one day.
In the Eclipse Temple, they finally found a home.
The Golden Animals
The souls of grifix take the shape of animals called sphirix, only visible to their grifix and other sphirix. When a grifix passes, their soul will retain that shape and head into the Night realm.
Some, however, find themselves unable to leave, burdened by unresolved matters of their past life.
The priest used therat's power to catch and turn them into gold, in order to use six of them to open a portal to the night realm.
Kurshum
The sphirix of Frey - turned to gold through an ancient ritual. The ritual boosted the priest's magic abilities, and allowed his sphirix to turn other souls to gold, as long as the priest was living.
But that caused the priest to lose any connection with his soul and that drove him mad… Swallowed by the night realm in the end, he finally passed away. Now the rat has no power over the other golden animals.
Yishharu
Once the sphirix of Rene, he was turned into gold by the priest in an attempt to keep Rene alive. But it was futile. Yishharu had to watch Rene wither away and die, not being able to join her in the afterlife. He then had to watch his dear lover descend into madness because of her passing, unable to bring closure or healing to him.
Now he hopes to clean up the mess caused by Rene's research together with Raven, his new companion.
Ōgama
A spirit almost as old as the Frozen Empire, having hunted the streets of the Herbalists Guild for centuries.
It seems to mourn the loss of a lover.
Mantis
A young yet malicious spirit, full of vengeance at the thought of her grifix's passing at the claw of another.
Kikeru
A small mischievous bird, who will jump at every opportunity to snatch away anything shiny.
She never got to linger in the streets too much. It was the priest who killed her grifix, and he couldn't let such a useful spirit get away.
Nashuja
Another ancient spirit who lingered around since the early days of the Frozen Empire.
The sky of the Frozen Empire is full of soaring rays. Some call them the protectors of the Empire.
This was the first one to fly in the sky, the mother of all the rays in the sky.
The priest
Every time he turned a sphirix to gold, his soul was further ripped into pieces. He sacrificed so much trying to get her back, that he lost sight of himself.
His descent into madness drove everyone away - all the priestesses from the temple, all the guards, all the parishioners, and eventually his own sphirix.
The spirits
In the Night Realm, souls of the passed survive in the shape of their sphirix. But as time passes and they are forgotten by the living and the dead, they will fade, forget their lives and lose their shape…
Hundreds of such souls emerged from the Night Realm when the portal was open, eager to feed on the despair and delusions of the living, hoping to regain their old shapes back.
The priest's delusion was so strong that it allowed them to take a solid shape, that of his past lover. But they looked nothing like her - perhaps that the priest, lost in his grief, reimagined her appearance into something else entirely.
Rene and Frey
A beautiful yet lonesome scholar, lost in her studies. She neglected her health in search of otherworldly knowledge. When faced with death, she turned towards religion in hopes of finding closure.
That's when she met Frey, a young cleric, with his whole life in front of him. Their friendship soon blossomed into something more, but while Rene accepted her fate, he could not. So he swore he would do everything in his power to save her.
The Guards
Two mercenaries hired by the Clerics Guild to protect the Eclipse Temple after the regular guards refused to work there anymore.
They think the priest is absolutely mad, but as long as they're getting paid they'll continue doing their job.
At least he can't bother them during their lunch break.
Little Feather and Fannar
Little Feather is an aspiring cleric, learning the craft from his mentor, Fannar, in a little shrine on the edge of the Tailors District, opposite of the great Eclipse Temple.
Fannar is all too familiar with the priest. After all, the two of them are brothers.
He was surprised to see the rat show up at his doorstep after he and Frey hadn't talked for years. The news of his brother's passing shattered him. He truly wished he had spent more time with him.
All he can do now is offer shelter to therat, and help him sort out the priest's mess
The Frozen Empire
It stands in the furthest part of the Frozen North, where the light of the sun barely ever reaches, and the ice engulfs everything.
The Empire is protected by the giant soul of Aeterna - the green sphirix that engulfes the entirety of the Empire, keeping those inside warm.
Light comes from the Eclipse Tower, the giant device that stands in the middle of the Empire, above everything else. It was built by the last queen of the grifix, Eclipsa, when they arrived here after the Great Cataclysm.
The Eclipse Cult
The Eclipse Cult is the main religion of the Frozen Empire, venerating the ancestors of the grifix.
Eclipsa's Temple is the most important, as it venerates Eclipsa, the founder of the Empire. But it is not the only temple out there. Besides the six main temples of the Cult, there are hundreds of shrines and minor deity temples spread throughout the Frozen Empire.
The Eclipse Cult is also the one in charge of maintaining the Eclipse Tower and performing rituals on important holidays within the Empire.
IMPORTANT: I wanna be open about this. I used AI to check the grammar in my book since I'm not native and there were a lot of mistakes.
I'm kinda pissed off about it to be fair. Really bothers me that I did that but since this book was to be displayed in an exhibition and other stuff... I kinda didn't want it to have mistakes. And I had nobody to help me with correcting the mistakes, plus I had no time, it was a matter of days to get it finished...
The thing that bothers me is that it also suggested some rephrasing stuff that indeed sounded more correct and I decided to keep the AI's suggestions for the sake of the text being more correct (still minimal!!) but now I feel kind of disconnected from the text, and also sort of guilty for using AI.
Best I can do is be open about it and say that I am sorry for giving into it, and if I get a chance in the future I might go through it and rewrite some parts.
To be clear: THE BOOK WAS NOT WRITTEN BY AI!! I just gave it the text I wrote and asked it to check for mistakes. The book was fully written at that point, just... pretty full of mistakes, is all.
I did not use any AI at all for the images.
I'm kinda pissed off about it to be fair. Really bothers me that I did that but since this book was to be displayed in an exhibition and other stuff... I kinda didn't want it to have mistakes. And I had nobody to help me with correcting the mistakes, plus I had no time, it was a matter of days to get it finished...
The thing that bothers me is that it also suggested some rephrasing stuff that indeed sounded more correct and I decided to keep the AI's suggestions for the sake of the text being more correct (still minimal!!) but now I feel kind of disconnected from the text, and also sort of guilty for using AI.
Best I can do is be open about it and say that I am sorry for giving into it, and if I get a chance in the future I might go through it and rewrite some parts.
To be clear: THE BOOK WAS NOT WRITTEN BY AI!! I just gave it the text I wrote and asked it to check for mistakes. The book was fully written at that point, just... pretty full of mistakes, is all.
I did not use any AI at all for the images.
Submitted By MysteriousShine
Submitted: 6 days ago ・
Last Updated: 2 days ago
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