[Storm Shrine] Tempestuous Mind (Solo)

by **Talya** on June 6th, 2015, 5:56 pm

Timestamp: Summer 14, 515 AV

Talya hadn't been within the city long. But still, it seemed easier to navigate to her than the city she had left behind. For one, there seemed less of everything, all the buildings being old or abandoned, if not newer and well kept, but far more spread out than she had remembered seeing back in Ravok. And then there were the forests and mountains to one side of the port city, and the water on the opposite end, which made it seem far more open than the enclosure Rhysol's city had rested upon. The buildings all seemed to have names too, and the streets were clearly marked, the people friendlier, and more likely to call out to her than those in Ravok. Things just seemed easier to find, although those things that she actually wanted to find were far more difficult to locate than not. At least though, the Storm Shrine seemed the beginning of those things. A shrine located in the foothills above the old quarter, with a lightning rod above its roof, and dark wood walls, lain out so they appeared as though they might have been tiers, at least, to Talya's eyes, as she made her way through the doors and took her first look around.

Talya noticed that there were many depictions of Zulrav all around the shrine. Some in the form of larger statues, other in smaller statuettes, although some were paintings. Some held lightning, others simply dark skies, or swirling winds, done by deft hands. There was an altar at the front, and a few pews, although not many, so as to give more room for items of worship, and cushions at the feet of some so that practitioners would find their prayer more comfortable on their bony knees. There were offerings lain before the altar too. Some candles, with soft flickering flames. Some were white, others a pale blue or grey. There was food too, and Tal though she saw a cup of water, and maybe another of sand; she wasn't quite sure from where she stood.

For the most part, the temple seemed empty at the early hour. When the sun was just beginning to rise, and peek out from behind the clouds. Parting them, as it added different shades to the hues found within the tranquil sky. Although, there was a priest, dressed in long sweeping robes making rounds- dusting off some of the statues, and seeing that no one defaced the shrine's treasured properties. When the younger man noticed Tal, (he appeared to be in his twenties, although Tal had never been a good judge of the human years), he approached her and asked if she needed any help. If she had any questions, or wanted to be led in a prayer to the god of storms. Whether she wanted to try on behalf of a sailor friend perhaps, to either bring them, or stave them off so that he may travel safely from one port to the next.

Talya shook her head.

Not unless a simple prayer can calm the storm that rages inside of me, she thought, as her dark eyes settled on the paler green of the priest. "Questions, perhaps," Talya offered after a time, as she looked down on the shorter individual.

"And what might those be?" the priest inquired.

Talya turned away from him and peered over at the altar. "Is Zulrav light or dark?" she asked.

The priest blinked a few times. As though he didn't understand. "What?"

"Is Zulrav light or dark?" Tal asked again, as she turned to face him. Peer directly into his eyes with her own.

"What do you mean?" the priest asked.

"Is he... tempestuous, as his realm suggests?" Tal asked. "Or is he perceived as a lighter god, reserving his harsher hand for extreme measures?"

"Perhaps a bit of both," the priest replied, seemingly taken aback by her line of questioning.

"Is he associated with an emotion, then?" Tal asked. "Or a group of them?"

"How so?" the priest inquired.

Tal sighed inwardly. Sometimes man was to slow. "Take Priskil for instance. She is associated with light, and with hope, while her counterpart, Rhysol, with betrayal and chaos. Simplified, light and dark. Good and evil. Kindness and treachery. Peace and discord. Happiness and unrelenting strife." Tal paused, as she licked her crackling lips. "Into which category falls he?"

The priest raised his hand to his breast, as though the Ethaefal were uttering blasphemy.

"Neither, I suppose. For storms are both good and bad, and so he, is both good and bad."

Talya nodded.

"You've never met him."

The priest shook his head.

And you think you know. How is it, that anyone thinks they can know someone or something they have never seen?

Never touched?

Never felt?

Never experienced?

Even me?

"And the other gods," Tal began. "What of them?"

"What of them?" the priest repeated.

"What do they think of him?"

The priest shrugged.

"Rhysol," my god is hated by all, yet loved by his city, "is hated by them all, and Priskil loved, what of Zulrav?"

"He must fall somewhere in the middle; my child."

Talya nodded. She supposed it was bound to happen. There was black and white, but also a blend; the grey. The grey in the midst of the storm, the light before and after. With the black falling at its peak. Impenetrable.

But was that ok?

Did it feel ok to discover the grey?

"Thank you," Talya said, "for your time," she added, before the man bowed and walked away. She could sense that he was relieved, as her words, for whatever reason had unnerved them. Maybe he didn't find such often. The Ethaefal couldn't be sure as she stood in the midst of the storm god's temple. Playing their conversation over and over in her head.

by **Talya** on June 12th, 2015, 10:11 pm

What did it even mean, to discover the grey? The middle ground between two extremes like Rhysol, Sylir and Priskil? That Talya would have to change the way she thought and processed things, or adopt some new thoughts into her own, some of which seemed both strange and foreign to her, altogether uncomfortable to experience? And these changes, would they scare her? Did they?

The Ethaefal searched herself, unearthing the hidden corners of her mind as she thought over what was contained within the grey matter. Balance; mainly. A bit of darkness, and a bit of light. Median emotions, sadness but not true sorrow. Depression. There was happiness without exctasy, or overwhelming joy. There was anger without rage; a quietly burning flame that failed to grow, or move over the edge. It was fear without being fully encompassed by your trepidation; falling victim to an attack by your own anxiety and trepidation. It was love without passion.

It was feeling without the turmoil.

Without all of the intensity.

To Talya, feeling without any feeling. As without the vibrancy brought on by the strength of anything. Fervor in one's faith, in their beliefs, in their emotions, there was no point. As the grey tones created doubt, and what use was that when you were in the midst of an argument, and had to depend your views? Or in the heat of a battle, when you had to fend for your life? When faced with a lover, and you were being asked if you loved them back? If you felt the same way? If you wanted to run away together?

Talya sighed and shook her head, tousling her dark mane of hair.

The greys simply did not do. They would not do.

Only the black; only the white. Only the intense, backed by passion. Only those times when you knew without question, and the world and its many possibilities, its endless paths lay clear before your feet. Devoid of blemish- be it broken pebbles, dirt or grime, rain water, erosion, leaves or fallen trees. Paths without forks. Those that did not stray or veer, but continued always, endlessly on ahead.

Those were the only ones worth taking.

The easiest ones.

This Talya knew, and so she felt, it would always be for her as she took her leave of the shrine, never bothering to look back as she made her way slowly into the city of Zeltiva.