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--- sessions:worldbuilding:2023-06-24 [2023/08/26 18:12] – Fixed typo pinkgothic
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 -No, I would argue that I am quite real.. though, of course, if I //were// a dream, I might say the same in any case. You have no word for what I am; I suppose you might call me a god or a spirit, though those are uniquely useless terms.-}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|An-uxhwi was sceptical. His idea of a deity was rather different than what was being presented to him here. So far as he could tell, the voice speaking to him was just as likely to be some creature that, while perhaps not takma or xtauh, was even still mortal, or otherwise bound to the mundane laws of the universe.
+But it hardly mattered.
+"Might there be something you can do to aid Evrith?" he asked, still pawing gently at Evrith, despite her lack of response to the touch. Implied in the tone of the question were further addenda: //And if so, might that please you, inherently, or might there at least be something I can offer in exchange?//
+There were many interpretations of 'aid', of course, but the ambiguity was intentional. Help with her current fitful state. Help against Ynudh and the likes of him. Help soothing her constant emotional pain. Help with her mission of leaving a message for the figure in her vision. <c>
+Any help at all.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|There was something like a sigh from behind him. -Not in the sense that you mean, I fear. Unless she experiences a similar coincidence of factors as you have, I will not be able to speak to her until she departs mortal life. In the meantime, direct, conscious intervention in your world by beings of my kind tends to be... counterproductive to mortals involved.
+If nothing else, the ambiguity of An-uxhwi's question did not seem to have thrown her off.
+-The servants of the hungry one - and, understand, though they are rare proportionally, there are still many of them - are provided with knowledge of her location by their master, and I cannot prevent them from seeing it,- the motherly voice continued. -I can tell you that her being in one of the worlds to which the books provide access will confuse their perception, at least for some time; but in order to search the future for the threat to your world, she must be on Avishraa, because she cannot follow the future there from another world.
+-And as for her own state...- There was a pause, as if the voice were trying to decide how to word something. -Most Anomalies, I should say,- she proceeded cautiously, -look rather distressed when seen from this direction. The minds of mortals are not designed to cope with higher views of their timelines, and few deal well with it. She wishes not to see things that she is unable to avoid seeing. It does not help,- she added, -that she was taught to blame herself for many of them.-}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|An-uxhwi regarded Evrith with silent empathy for a longer moment of silence. Then he asked, his voice a little more subdued than it had been: "Is there something I can do to aid her, then?" He didn't sound as though he honestly expected an answer, but if one was forthcoming, he would certainly welcome it.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|There was a gradual change behind him, a feeling that the owner of the voice had leaned in toward him, that it was right behind him; and he felt something strange, a kind of dry warmth that reminded him of something he'd felt before.
+The voice said, -You have made a good start. She was hurt, and learned by example to hurt herself; you have been giving her an example of what it means to be cared for, and she may yet learn to care for herself. But it will be hard to continue under the conditions that likely lie ahead, you know. Healing is far easier when one can rest unburdened, and her task may leave all too little time for that.-
+There was a pause, and then: -You have already lost a part of yourself to the hungry one, in following her. Do you truly intend to continue?-}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|"Had it not been for Evrith, I would have lost all of myself to the mines," he said, by way of contrasting his recent losses with a far more final fate. "Whatever of me continues past that point, and past any others since, does so in her service." A nod, resolute. "Yes, I intend to continue."}}
+{{wst>shyriath|-You may have some difficulty convincing her to cooperate with that,- the voice replied thoughtfully. -I suspect that she does not want you to be further hurt.-
+A slight haziness began to creep into An-uxhwi's vision, as though a mist were forming around him. The starry expanse around him became less distinct. Was this dream, or vision, or whatever it was, coming towards its close?}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|There were no answers for him here - not even an answer as to whether any of this was real in any meaningful sense, a curious little piece of trivia he could have taken back with himself. Perhaps he had met some gods of some description, but he had nothing to show for it.
+How dire was the situation back in his normal frame of reference? Evrith seemed all right, for someone who was perpetually anguished about the future, but if he was maybe just dreaming, maybe his mind was just soothing him with that image.
+"I have to try," he said, a little numbly, concluding the conversation from his perspective.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|The vision around him began to vanish. But, behind him, the warmth increased. And it occurred to him that it was very much like those blessed few hours in the dawn, when the Burning Eye was only recently risen but the Gentle Eye had not yet given way, and the chill desert night and the inferno of the day met in a pleasant warmth under both Eyes' gaze...
+-For what it's worth,- the voice said, -I think, son of Je-thuro, that you are doing the right thing. You must go now, I think... but we will speak again, one day, and you can tell me all about it.-
+...and there, slowly being veiled by gray nothing but still discernible in front of him, was the world. It was fully lit, as if the light was behind him, where the voice was.}}
+{{wst>|pinkgothic|One more time, but without expectation of success, An-uxhwi tried to turn toward the sound, indulge his useless curiosity as a parting gift to himself in this dream or vision, even if nothing would come from whatever insight it managed to give him.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|His head would only turn so far; his body remained turned toward the world, no matter what he did. But as the vision dissolved, there was, perhaps, a tiny bit less resistance, a minute relaxing of the strictures of this place...
+If he turned his head as far as it could possibly go, twisted his eye to the very edge of its socket, there was a brief, blinding glimpse of golden sunfire amidst something vast and dark.
+As the strain on his eye forced him to look away, the voice chuckled in tolerant amusement. It said, as both sound and vision faded away: -The question, son of Je-thuro, is not what you think you see, but what you //believe//.-
+And then, in one last whisper: -Be well, little one.- Then the clouds of unconsciousness rolled over him once more.}}