A Brush With Death (Closed)

[Oncaro]

The Novi Dvor, Kressnian Belgrade
One week after the Martian Conflict

The night air was calm, only a gentle breeze nudging a small set of wind chimes outside the window as Danica Ambrozije, Supreme Leader of the Republic of Kressnia, sat in the study of the Colonial Governor's residence, which he was graciously sharing with her before she left to go back to NS-1.

She was poring over a centuries-old text; a firsthand account of the Great Interstellar War of her home universe-- the largest conflict ever waged by that universe's humanity, spanning the entire settled area of the Orion Arm up to that point in time and which had seen many millions of soldiers fielded over fifteen years, and many more lives lost by its end. This book had once been a bestseller, centuries ago. Here, now, it was a near-priceless artifact.

She was reading this book in particular in order to try to get a sense of perspective about it, because the PW-1 universe, while housing Kressnia's first, only, and quite successful multiversal colony, continuously seemed to be a tinderbox waiting to go up in an explosion as the Union of Multiversal States continuously clashed with the natives of Orbis, most specifically the space-faring ones, because the largest members of the UMS seemed to see the Orbisians as beneath their need to acknowledge, while the Orbisians seemed to bristle at the slightest perceived threatening move or gesture by the UMS-- or rather, those members that acted individually, but it appeared that at least some of the Orbisians could not be bothered to separate sovereign nations from an alliance of them.

And then there was Kressnia. A republic with one star system and a relatively small amount of land on Orbis to its name, it was dwarfed by its allies-- and, in turn, dwarfed a number of the powers of PW-1, though not all of them. The republic had not bothered to get involved with all these affairs, content to remain in the Balkans... While undergoing a remilitarization project that would, if all went according to Danica's vision, lead to a well-organized and well-equipped military with tens of millions of personnel and over one hundred thousand military-grade ships to protect its citizenry. Still not a major force within the sphere of the UMS, but far stronger than it had ever been before, even during the Great Interstellar War.

The people were surprisingly supportive of this initiative, and civilians were signing up in droves, driven by the desire to protect their home and assist their allies-- nearly too many to keep up the demand with. Perhaps she'd have to contact the Kutathi Orbital Fabricators and renegotiate their deal...

Danica closed the book after marking where she left off, and sighed. These people, her beloved, adopted people, trusted in her so much that they were willing to, at least for now, betray a principle of demilitarization that they had had for four hundred out of their five hundred years of existence. This both flattered her, and scared her out of her mind; because if she had had a choice, this militarization would never have been brought up. The Kressnian Self-Defense Force would have remained an in-system militia. But with how things in PW-1, at least, could go down at any point in the near future, Kressnia needed to be prepared for such an eventually... She simply hoped that it wouldn't lead to her people changing for the worse.

"Damn it all," Danica muttered to herself as she set her elbows on her desk and put her face in her hands. She hated turning so introspective, but it had become more and more frequent ever since the lives of all Kressnians were changed forever.

Edited November 28, 2016 by Oncaro

[The Sacred Lights]

As Danica sat in her study, dwelling in thought, all was calm... Until a light chuckling echoed out from the darkness. Upon it's sounding, all of the lights in the house dimmed, with only the natural light of the fireplace shining true, despite having not been lit by Danica herself. But it did not shine as it normally would, indeed it seemed as if the light emanating was being eaten by the darkness in the room.

The voice spoke. It's tone was low, but booming and menacing, it spoke in a language she could not understand before speaking in Kavisithiiri. "Do you... know your place?" The voice inquired, seeming to echo from all around. The darkness itself felt as if it was surrounding all, with the only refuge being directly in front of the fireplace. "Have you learned your place this time?"

At that moment, the screaming voice of a woman entered her mind. It was the being known as Brianna Gennett-Hawk, a being she couldn't possibly know of. None the less the screams filled her mind, as she felt the fear and madness that came before... Silence... The deepest, darkest, and coldest silence.

Edited November 24, 2016 by The Sacred Lights

[Oncaro]

As quickly as the shift in atmosphere came, Danica reacted, her head snapping up at the dimming lights and the odd laughter.

Immediately, instinctively, she attempted to discover the presence behind these sounds, and paused as she heard a voice speaking to her... in her own tongue. A language she had not used since her arrival on the planet of Kressnia thirty years prior, after leaving Kavisithiir itself.

She backed up, her green eyes darting around the darkening area as her pulse quickened. She looked to the fireplace, saw the flames looking as if some dark presence were outright eating them, and her eyes widened.

Where is it? Where is it?! she thought frantically, her mind rapidly working over the possibilities of who or what could be contacting her--

And then the screaming began.

She wasn't the one screaming, no-- it was someone else, some woman she had never met and never would meet, but the emotions felt like her own. The despair, the madness, the fear of a fate Danica could not comprehend, the rage-- at herself or at those around her? Danica didn't know-- it seemed to freeze her in place, reverberating through her very being, as if it were her emotion coming through--

Nothing.

The screams had stop. And Danica felt alone. More alone than she had ever felt, because... there was nothing. She was nothing, for a few brief horrifying moments.

And then she came back to her senses, and she was staring up at the ceiling, having fallen to the floor in what she assumed to be a panic attack.

"An illusion. That was all that was," she murmured in her mother tongue without realizing it, and she slowly picked herself up.

What in the Winds could have done such a thing to me... she thought, utterly bewildered. What could have possibly escaped her notice like that?

[The Sacred Lights]

As her thought came to a close, the darkness shrouding the room seemed to retreat, allowing the fire to shine its light across the room. For but a moment, it seemed that Danica could relax... "I'm no illusion, child." The same voice broke the silence, this time however it came from a specific direction. Danica turned to see the dimly lit figure of a man, clearly Mesoamerican racially and culturally, propped up against her bookshelf, casually skimming through a book titled "The Death of the Gods".

The stood there, in traditional Mesoamerican attire, but his entire body was covered in ash like body paint. Even looking right at him she could sense nothing, trying harder she could sense a nothing that overlapped with the reality. It was cold, distant, devouring, and all too familiar to the presence that came after the scream. "Little Goddess, I've come for my tribute."

Edited November 24, 2016 by The Sacred Lights

[Oncaro]

Danica's gaze snapped to the figure that spoke, and her eyes widened slightly as she took in his appearance; the closest thing she'd seen to this man's look was the Tonina, most specifically Prince K'inich B'alam. But more than his appearance, his aura was what caused her the most discomfort. It was... wrong, in a manner she could not completely determine and yet which she already knew.

This man... This... thing, was unlike any being Danica had ever encountered. He was not of the Winds-- or the WellSpring. He was not of any power Danica had seen in NS-1 or PW-1. And this terrified her in a way she had never felt terror before. She was an exceedingly intelligent woman, she had known this for a long time. She prided herself on being able to grasp concepts foreign to her very quickly. But this was something she couldn't wrap her head around.

And to cap things off, this thing had called her a goddess.

Danica knew she was powerful. She knew that as far as her home universe was concerned she might as well have been God, because she was the only one of her kind to breach the barriers between Kavisithiir and the realm of humanity. But the time she had considered herself worthy of the title "goddess" was long over, decades past. She had grown as a person since then, had become more... Human.

"I--" Danica tried to say, but she faltered, trying to find her tongue. "I... Pardon me for seeming rude, but... What in the Winds are you...?"

[The Sacred Lights]

"I... I am the End child." He said, with a defeated sigh, as if he grew tired of having to say such things. "Little Dretviri, you're a long way from home. Your people know not of me?" He asked, his gaze locking onto the terrified young goddess. "There are many things beyond your comprehension, little one, I am the least of such things."

As he finished words, the book he was holding began to rot, and degrade, crumbling and dissolving, until it fell threw his hand like ash as it fell towards the ground. He took a few steps towards the confused woman, before stopping. "I am here, for my tribute." He said once again, this time more authoritative in tone. His voice was still hushed, and collected. His posture relaxed, perhaps too relaxed.

Once again Danica heard a scream, this time a man, his soul being ripped apart and put back together like it was a sick game. But the figure's gaze did not change, his posture did not change, it was as if he was unaware or uncaring of the noise.

Edited November 24, 2016 by The Sacred Lights

[Oncaro]

Danica backed up further as he approached, into the nearest wall which she pressed herself against.

He knows my name.

That simple thought scared her more than anything else so far. She had told no-one of her true name since leaving Kavisithiir, not even the Archons of Alterra that she had met, beings that she now knew were like her in that they drew power from the same source as she did, the very power that made up herself and her entire species. She had not even thought of herself as being "Dretviri Magronos" in over a quarter of a century, having divorced herself from that identity and the past that had come with it as much as possible. But she fought through this, and through the terror she was feeling.

She was Danica Ambrozije, dammit! She did not get scared like this, screaming voices and Eldritch Abominations be damned!

Straightening up and setting her jaw, Danica met the other figure's gaze readily now, regaining her confidence in herself. This figure might have been something she'd never seen, might have been the personification of death considering what he called himself, but she wasn't going to cower and whimper before it like a sniveling little girl!

"My name is Danica Ambrozije," she said, her voice firm. "What tribute do you want from me? If it's my soul you want, you'll find I'm not willing to part with it quite so easily. I have a nation to protect."

[The Sacred Lights]

"Your soul?" He rhetorically asked in reply. A slight chuckle heard in his response. "It already belongs to me. In the end, you too will perish." He said, drawing even closer. "All but I perish." He stopped now right in front of her. There was nowhere to go for her, nowhere to turn. "Your brave face, is a facade.. You were drawn from the ink of a !@#$, and you put on her mask. But you wear it wrong... This will save you."

Stepped back a bit, casually moving about as he took a seat in front of the fire. "Come kiss my feet, little goddess. Know your place." He said, with authority, as he turned his gaze back to her. "I am Miquiztli, and I am the one who determines when and where you end." With that statement he turned his gaze to the fire. His eyes glossing over for a moment before remarking. "I am not as merciful as Evermore."

Edited November 24, 2016 by The Sacred Lights

[Oncaro]

Danica furrowed her brow at this figure. What in the Winds was he even on about? Her demeanor shifted from defensive to... Honestly curious, once he mentioned Evermoure, a being she had actually met over in NS-1. Perhaps he was the real deal after all, something that was more and more likely the more she thought about it... Until it made too much sense.

No-one else could have that sort of insight as to know her name. No-one else in these universes knew her mother tongue outside of Kavisithiir. And certainly no-one had deigned to tell her that she really was worthy of being a goddess, because she had not broached the subject with the Alterrans, and the High Elders who raised her had no frame of reference beyond Kavisithiir.

Yes, it all made sense... Though she didn't quite get why prostrating was necessary. He was death itself, why bother sumbitting physically that which claimed everyone when she already submitted to that knowledge itself? Still... best not to anger him or else he'd decide to end her early.

"Please forgive me, Miquiztli," she said, her voice now more normal as she approached him and knelt in submission, in the manner that she had knelt to the High Elders so long ago in deference to their will. Although she had grown tired of them holding her back even after her training had been completed, because they feared she would become like the mages she was created from. And why wouldn't she have grown tired of it? She had been told for her entire life up to the point she left that there would be no Kavisithiir before or after her that would match her, let alone surpass her. She was Anu'tari, the True Child of the Winds, though she had rejected that title upon leaving. But here, though, here was one she would never equal. A figure worthy of kneeling toward, whether she liked it or not.

"I have never encountered a being such as yourself before, nor do I know of whatever woman you speak of, though I have met Evermoure," she said, keeping her head down. "But I do not understand... Why do you keep calling me a goddess? There's no way I'm that powerful, not among those who are like me... Is there?"

Edited November 24, 2016 by Oncaro

[The Sacred Lights]

"You have power to show, and people who would worship your very name... A role to fill. All that stands in the way of being you, is you." He said, his demeanor softening as she bowed. "You need not know of that woman, it is beyond your comprehension Even Evermore has not seen it.. Nor will it ever know, for it can only see the multiverse it knows." He said, calmly, as he placed his hands on Danica's shoulders and lifted her to a stand.

"All you need know is that I have killed you, evermore, and all things countless times, and will do so for countless more times." He said, as he moved away from her, looking out the window into the darkness of the surrounding area. "You are new to this... I am the one who devours all of existence."

[Oncaro]

Danica frowned heavily at his words as she took them in, and slowly shook her head.

"I do not want worship," she said. "Not anymore. When I was younger and more arrogant, yes... I thought that to be worshipped by these creatures that cannot even sense my power, let alone use their own, was something I would like, something I deserved, after it being drilled over and over into my head growing up that I was beyond anyone my people had ever seen or would ever see. But not anymore."

She turned to face him. "I know that, eventually, I'll have no choice but to reveal my true nature to the people I now consider more family to me than my own ever were. I dread that day, because I've lied to them all for so long, because I did not want them to believe I was any different than they were. I didn't want them to fear me. I didn't want them to label me a witch and rightfully call me a deceiver, and hate me. For all I know, those things will happen. But I also feel that I'll be worshipped as well, which terrifies me. Because people believe their gods can do no wrong... And if there is one thing I've learned since living among humanity, it's that I am very fallible. I do not deserve such praise and never will."

Edited November 24, 2016 by Oncaro

[The Sacred Lights]

"If you do not wish to be called a Deceiver?.. Then be what you are." He said, his voice growing irritated. "You're a child goddess, despite you flaws, and to be a god is to not be flawless. Otherwise there would be no gods." He said, turning to her, and coming close, very close. "Those humans, most of their power is what they offer to others. A god takes that power, and acts on their behalf." He was close, his eyes but a little away from hers. Pulling back and stepping away again, he continued. "Be their goddess,or be replaced."

[Oncaro]

Danica paused for a moment, and looked to him.

 

"Why?" she asked simply. Her tone wasn't confrontational, but legitimately curious. "Why should I be their goddess now, after they have spent centuries in relative peace, with a system that works? I am already doing what I am supposed to in leading them as best I can, and I... I don't want them to become like my people. To become a theocracy, specifically where my word is the only law and faith in me is the only faith. For all my pride, and my belief that I'm the only one that can really help them achieve true prosperity-- something I'll readily admit to here-- I do not feel that worship of myself is worth... Worth them losing what makes them who they are. To become something other than the people I fell in love with. Change is inevitable, I understand that, it's just... I fear that such change will not be good. So please, Lord Death... Help me understand why I need to do this, and how doing so truly will help them, and not hurt them. That's all I ask for here."

[The Sacred Lights]

"Need? Does a Caterpillar need to become a butterfly for any reason other than it is their fate?.." He scoffed at the though of this butterfly hiding in he cocoon, before continuing. "The multiverse is filled with Deities that wish to fulfill their role. If you will not fulfill yours, another will take your place." He smiled, amused, as he took a seat and stared into the fire. "When you are their goddess, they will be drawn to acting in your image, under your lead. They will not stray unless you do."

[Oncaro]

"And... That is precisely my fear, I suppose. I do not... I do not want to become a heartless cynic. I'm a firm believer in the good of all beings, if they have the will to let it triumph over their base desires. I..."

 

She stopped, and was silent for a long time, trying to come to terms with this. She knew from experience that human beings were not some simple-minded as to blindly follow her example, or even the example of the gods they did worship. And yet here was Death talking to her about this. A being that had told her upfront that he was, essentially, the ultimate power in the multiverse. A figure that had seen civilizations and gods rise and fall for so long, for so many cycles, Danica herself could scarcely understand the scale of it.

 

And then there were figures like B'alam, who outright questioned her ability to safeguard her own people simply because she refused to stop seeing the potential in humanity-- specifically, the humans of PW-1. That had infuriated her so much... but what if he was right?

 

"... I have a lot to think about," she said at last, her voice weary.

[The Sacred Lights]

"You have time... For now." Death stood up and opened a portal. From it oozed the same Existing Nonexistence he was comprised of. All the light around is was being drawn in, devoured by the portal. It was so black, so dark, nothing could be felt inside it. Death stepped inside, his voice radiating as the portal closed behind him. "I would not wait too long."

[Oncaro]

It was some time before Danica moved from her spot, so lost was she in her own thought of everything that had happened in the past week. But eventually, she made up her mind, and made arrangements to see herself back to NS-1. For the time being, she was through with being in this universe and delaying her return home. She was tired of trying and failing to stop diplomatic spats out of a sense of idealism that clearly didn't belong here. She was tired of being looked down upon as some naïve child who didn't know her place. One way or another, she decided, by the time she came back to PW-1, things would be different for her.

And so by the time morning came, the Novi Dvor was once more in the hands of Governor Roman Dubronovic, and Danica was back in the Republic proper. She would not come back for some time.