The Herald From the Heavens
A herald from the heavens.
You write so much and while I don't always comment, I love your works like,,, a whole lot. Hopefully you'll like this?
Like the tags said, I wanted to try something new. This was fun, and I hope it's as enjoyable to read as it was to write.
So uhhhh enjoy (hopefully)
The people of Tantal, like any of the other peoples in Alrest, have a rich history.
This history has, of course, been slowly lost with the passage of time with the most notable loss of records being the destruction of Old Theosoir and the Theospiti Temple.
Many attempts to account for their destruction--the Theospiti Temple in particular--exist; some even go as far as to say that the Theospiti Temple is not real (an argument that has been disproven time and time again with overwhelming amounts of evidence).
The most popular account is, perhaps, the tale passed down within the Records of the Royal Family of Tantal.
The Herald from the Heavens:
A long time ago, the King of Coeia gifted the King of Tantal with a beautiful blue gem as a show of friendship and solidarity.
When the King held the crystal in his hands a woman emerged from it, dressed in the bleak colours of Abaasy and with hair the colour of amethyst vanilla. The people were wary of her despite the King's repeated request that they welcome her amongst themselves.
One day, when the sky was dense with ether and not even the finest of the King's guard could fight off the hordes of squood and laia rising from the depths of Tantal, she came forth and managed to dispatch them all in one fell swoop.
Wariness changed to awe and whispers of a divine being spread amongst the people spread from Theosoir to Gelgemos.
Skilled at combat yet always looking for peaceable resolutions, her counsel saw Tantal through many wars and skirmishes.
A goddess, they called her.
A herald from the heavens.
One day, a dragon descended upon the people. It was majestic; glistening white and lavender scales, gilded claws, iridescent wings and a particularly malicious glint in its eyes. Many of Tantal's finest fell to the dragon, and even the goddess had trouble against it.
Faced with such a challenging opponent, she released the self-imposed seal on her power; something she'd never done before. After hours and hours of harrowing battle, the dragon was defeated. Celebration did not come for before the people of Tantal, an even more fearsome opponent stood; their very own goddess gone mad with power.
With what must have been the last of her sanity, she held herself back from killing the people. Her rampage, however, collapsed countless buildings, amongst them the Theospiti Temple.
Seeing the great pain the goddess was in, the King, in his wisdom and selflessness, gave his life for the safety of his people. And with the King's last breath, the goddess's form faded and in her place remained the crystal from which she was awakened.
There was much sorrow and mourning in Theosoir as the Council of Philosofia convened and came to a decision.
The goddess's crystal was sealed in an altar unnamed, one of the only parts of the Temple that had remained standing. This altar was to remain sealed until the people were in desperate need of aid, and only blood could undo the seal upon it.
The altar remains in the ruins of the Theospiti Temple to this day, sealed and unnamed, but never truly forgotten.
***
While this account seems the most sensible of those that exist, there are no surviving records from the kingdom of Coeia that confirm the gifting of what is believed to be a core crystal to the then King of Tantal--Sofíthysía. Some even argue against the existence of Coeia despite its repeated mention in different historical passages.
Other historians believe that amongst the great warriors who fought the dragon were Elliot and Melvin, who were said to have fallen to the draconic creature ('...and so the journey of the two brothers, the Spring Shower and the Autumn Shower, came to an end, cut short by a creature only the wrath of the divine could defeat.' The Pillar of Lumos, passage 13).
Most descriptions of the dragon point to it being an Argus of sorts, perhaps and Indoline Star. This, however, makes no sense as Argi were known not to be native to Tantal and are said to be unable to survive in frigid conditions.
The 'goddess' goes unnamed in all records she is mentioned in, though most have taken to calling her 'Herald', as she is often cited as 'The Herald From The Heavens'.
Herald: *awakened*
People of Tantal: *suspicious*
Herald: *kills big fish*
People of Tantal: Queen! Goddess!
Sofíthysía: see THIS is what I was saying--
Narrator: --an Indoline Star--
Everyone: 🤨⁉️
In-game: this altar requires BLOOD-LIKE sacrifices
Me: DID YOU SAY... BLOOD SACRIFICES??????
***
Oh, to be as full of nonsense as the Indoline Praetorium...
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As always, love,
John.