This choice: Juvo, priestess mother to an exceptional giant in a swords-and-sorcery fantasy • Go Back...Chapter #5The Cruelty of the Stars by: Kilbil   On one of the few remaining natural landmasses left in the world, a young woman slowly approaches the dried, hollowed-out Temple of Innsaei. Bathed in the light of the blue and green suns, she prays that she can make it through her ordeal in one peace.
The grand edifice before her, so carelessly peeled away from Dared's vast back, was a ghastly-looking thing. Even calling it an edifice was stretching the definition by leaps and bounds - there was no true shape or definition to the "temple" to speak of. Certainly, there was nothing that implied that it at any point garnered any sort of dignity or reverence from any self-respecting clan or tribe. No, Innsaei was more of a long, large lump growing out of the Earth, resembling the excrement of some mountain-sized beast that had been calcified into a solid form. The most that it had for presentable decoration was the skull of a slain pig-like beast that once measured seven yeads across, which had been affixed to the top of the worn cavity that served as an entrance. Otherwise, there was little redeemable about the dried-up boil - everything about it was wretched, from the rotting painted wood that had been arbitrarily affixed to the sides to give off the hollow impression of decoration, to the putrid head-sized barnacles that festered around every corner, to the craven holes dripping with mold and mildew that seemed to have been dragged from the bowels of Heim herself.
If Juvo didn't know any better, she would have gone so far as to say that Innsaei was specifically designed to bring the hardest of men to despair simply from witnessing it. Alas, it was within such a hideous den that the priestess had to enter, for the survivors of Heim had no other option. The world was trembling under their feet, breaking apart bit by bit. To abate the coming calamity, she needed to head deep into that odious temple so that he could fulfill her duty. As low as she had fallen, Heim deserved better than to be crumble under the weight of those who had been Cursed by the stars.
No one knew how it had all happened. What the people of Heim had done to fall out of the stars' favor had been a topic of great speculation among the remaining priests and priestesses, one that consumed their every waking and sleeping hour. For all their debating, however, none had ever come to a definitive conclusion that came close to sounding just or sound. The one thing everyone knew for certain, was that on the solstice of the Green Sun, the stars of Tâno, Dŵra, Daerd, Aer, and Gofoder had cursed five of their young thousandfold. From that moment until the end of days, they would grow at an ever-accelerating rate, until all of Heim had been smothered under their accumulated mass. During that time, they would the names of those stars upon their flesh, their old ones lost to the sands of time.
The children had grown so quickly, busting out of their homes and burying their cities under their mass in a matter of minutes. A combination of holy magic and technology had come in concord to bring their unending spurts to heel, all at a great cost. What few civilizations were left had little choice but to adapt to the tides of skin that had replaced the skies and the seas, and set a course for what would prove to be a dark age for all of Heim.
Tâno, whose light shall dominate the heavens, had been the first and by far the most consequential growth spurt. It had taken the efforts of all the most capable practitioners of geo-manipulation, as well as the giants themselves, to seal her up within the core of Heim and bind so that her endless growth wouldn't annihilate everything. Even now, her wrath spews out from the crust as geysers of raging magma the size of whole cities, yearning for nothing more than to complete her destructive task.
It was only thanks to Daerd, whose back upon which shall rest the continents, that this fate did not come to pass. With her ever-expanding body, she contained Tâno within the new core and formed the mantle and crust of the new Heim. All of the remaining continents now rested solely on her grand, arching back. Every day and every struggling to not move, a most onerous burden for anyone to bear, though her expertise in manipulating the surrounding rock that clung to her like a gauze helped in keeping the seal stable. Out of everyone, she bore by far the heaviest burden.
Dŵra, whose sweat shall bring forth the oceans, had been the most adamant in making the best out of the curse that he'd been forced to bear. Great, twisting tentacles of water followed him wherever his feet tread, though which the remaining sea life of the world traveled across to partake on their seasonal migrations. The oceans had become long, interconnecting networks of intersecting tubes, all trailing across the planet and feeding off the sweat produced by his massive, expansive body. He was both a boon to Hiem's ecosystem and an apocalyptic menace, for hot rains would mercilessly pelt the lands with wild abandon, leveling mountains and bringing ruin to entire regions. The greatest standing city, Kursivr, had the fortune of being under his protection and even then, it was a precarious one. All it would take was a single curl of one of his toes to send forth, and a tap to ensure its complete and total annihilation, so he took his duty to protect Kursivr with the utmost seriousness.
Aer, whose breath shall fill the skies, had taken a far more irreverent attitude towards his situation than anyone else. Like the others, he had grown immensely, but in turn, the atmosphere had grown around Heim to compensate. Clouds, some solid enough to walk upon, followed him wherever he drifted, ensuring he had some modesty even as a single nipple served as the entre sky for some parts of Heim. In time, gigantic chunks of Hiem had been ripped out and hoisted up into the sky from his sheer power, serving as floating islands free from the squalor and destitution down below. At times they affixed themselves to his skin, serving as the closest places to sanctuary for those who were fortunate enough to reside on them, though it was not uncommon for to accidentally run into and destroy them while he drifted across the planet. There were even rumors of great ships made of clouds that Aer had conjured up out of sheer boredom, which occasionally passed through as symbols of freedom and hope.
Gofoder... to linger on her for too long was to invite madness. It was best not to tread where man was not made to contemplate.
It is with this knowledge that Juvo serenely made her way through the gaping maw, seemingly untouched by the rot and malignant odors that wafted out. The stars could be unfathomably cruel, but in the end, their judgment and wisdom were absolute. She and her people could only do what they could to pay off their spiritual debt in full and attain their salvation. Perhaps this was even a blessing in disguise. With their newfound size, combined with their power, they had been working overtime to attempt to revive their mother Heim.
Her long, golden-brown hair flowed effortlessly, swaying in harmony with her silken black dress, which glowed and shimmers with the stars that guide Hiem's fate. Right now, the pinpricks of light that lined the fabric were a molten red, inviting destruction and peril to the people of this world. Were times more generous, she would have been greeted by a procession of solemn men and women, standing attention before their beloved priestess. Alas, their mother Heim was not the prosperous world that she used to be and had suffered many a calamity over the past fifty cycles. Most of her people were dead, and many a tribe and civilization had faced their premature end. Only a few sparse, dispersed grouping and ruins remained, and even their numbers were slowly dwindling with the passage of time. No one was here to bid her in or protect her from whatever enemies may come. By the same token, there were also very little in the way of enemies to contend with, either. Everyone was far too busy trying to survive the Cursed ones to worry much about such trivial matters as blood feuds.
A few minutes later, she came to the end of the hall, where here destiny awaited her. A wicked-looking black machine resembling a spinal cord, with malignant row of razor-sharp teeth at the base and hemisphere dome helmet stared back at Juvo, taunting her with the weight of her coming duty. Such a truly abominable thing, an unholy mix of glossy, oil-black metal and rock that blotted the face of the earth, should never have been at all. But it was the only way to calm the stars' wrath, and to ensure that the Cursed did not grow again. Heim could not take the strain of supporting the giants' weight any longer.
All that had to be done was focus, and channel her spirit through. For the past few cycles, the stars had been set out of their ideal alignments, filling her mind with all sorts of chaotic visions. Noise and color dominated her waking hours, accentuating the wear and tear of her joints and wreaking havoc on his spine. With her connection to the stars, she would calm their bodies, and by extension prevent them from expanding any further.
This was her one and only task, which she was to perform until the day she died. What happened afterward? Who was to say? Heim could only hope that by then, the stars would find it their hearts to forgive them all and undo the curse that had been wrought.
She hated this. They all hated it, but they needed it. She needed it. It was the only line she had left to her child.
She wondered what it would be like to be able to embrace them in her arms once more.
She prayed upon the power of ____ to ensure that her child would prosper and live another day.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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