Akajia

[Gossamer]

Akajia "Akajia" is the Night Incarnate. Standing in the darkness, one is surrounded by her essence and cannot deny the night is a living, breathing thing. A woman. Dark. Endless. Dependable to come; unpredictable upon arrival. Night will always fall. But she is not without boundaries. The night is curtailed by Syna's light. While Leth illuminates her and Zintila crowns her with glittering stars, Akajia is still a major force in the divine world. It is said her love for Wysar tinted his skin dark. And as the mother of the Akalak, they too are shadowed by her bloodlines and wear the evidence in their skin tones - dark and rich. Akajia manifests as a dark-skinned (often blue) woman with long silken hair that is always enshrouded by shadows that seem to live and move on their own. She is lithe and thin, and has a dark beauty with bright eyes that speaks of secrets older than time. They whisper loudly in a language only Akajia and her faithful know, Makath. When Akajia or one of her marked is near, the shadows in her immediate area seem to spring to life and speak as well, even if she is not manifested. She has no qualms about stretching her essence over the land and walking among people during Syna's retreat. She is generally not curious about them, though, and often treats people as an oddity she simply does not quite understand. This may or may not be an act, considering that Akajia has a healthy following among the many races of Mizahar. Indifferent would be a better term, perhaps, as she is more focused on the darkness and what it conceals. Akajia is the awareness of secrets and the queen of shadows. Neither good nor evil, Akajia is perhaps one of the truly neutral goddesses known to Mizahar. Her agenda, if she has one, is enshrouded by secrets wrapped in enigmas and closely guarded by a Goddess's inherent darkness. Akajia's followers have united into a group known as the Irst ("Irst" means veil in the Ancient Tongue) in current times. The Irst move in unique ways, gathering information and trading or selling it for reasons of their own. Unlike Akajia who does not deal often or easily with people, the Irst tend to live in cultural centers and have no trouble moving among them. It is thought that Yshul's followers are often in close contact with Akajia's for their mutual benefit.

[Zandelia]

Winter 20th, 512 AV – The Spires

The trees were shadowed, the air crisp and cold as Zandelia made her way thought the snow, the white blanket beneath her crumpling softly with each step. It was midnight, or close to it and she found herself possessed of the inability to sleep. No stimulant coursed through her veins, unless anger could be considered such – however even that was a mild smoldering deep within her chest. She paused to gaze around her, her single eye flashing briefly with reflected moonlight as she tilted her head back, clouds of mist drifting from her nostrils. Wrapping her cloak around her tightly she kept up her pace, seeking the solace beyond the trunks where the snow was thinner.

If I cannot sleep then I can at least sit somewhere I can think in peace, Goddess knows I damned well need to! she found herself thinking, caught out by the expression that stole into her mind – her father’s expression. It brought a sour twist to her lips as she crossed the boundary between sparse brush and actual forest.

She found a trunk and leant her right shoulder against it, her ankles crossed and her gaze flicking this way and that as it tried to pierce through the night. She doubted she would find much of interest at this hour, but she had learnt to never make assumptions. She would be ready should the occasion arise, eyes and ears pricked as she set about musing upon her current problems. She did not need to be able to read the message secreted inside her robes to recall the words scribbled within, characters rushed and poorly formed by half-rotten hands. Her father was in, or around, Syliras and she was within half a season of trying to build a strike against him.

“And yet here I am, stuck here until the storms ease,” she sighed irritably, “I finally have knowledge of him I have sought for seasons and I cannot act upon it” her fists bunched temporarily as she tried to impose calm upon her mind. Just because she could not act now did not mean she could not try to plan.

What would her father do? He would have created contingencies she was sure, bought hearts and minds or thugs to keep their eyes out. Possibly he might have gathered some funds with which to bribe and cajole. She knew he would probably see her before she was close enough, but that did not matter –it was part of the game. Secrecy was a friend but a fickle one, exposing itself at the wrong moments. She might get inside the city without notice, if she was careful, but she would need all the magic in the world to never be seen.

Not to mention he will surely know something was up when his plans started encountering…interruptions she mused, jesting to herself that he would probably ask for divine intervention if he thought it would help.

She could not help but chuckle a little to herself at that idea, but after a few minutes of silent contemplation she tilted her head, looking around once more to see if there were anything worth seeing, and wondered if it was not worth the effort to pray – even if it was of no use. She was frozen in position for a long number of chimes before she finally made her decision – work or not she would do whatever it took, and praying was one of the things she could do.

“Akajia,” she began as she put one knee to the ground in supplication, her words trapping in her throat as she wondered what to say, “Akajia Night’s Mistress, Queen of the seen and unseen, I ask for your aid for my mission” she opened with, using the titles her father, Markus, had done when she was a child and listening to his night time whispers in secret.

“Send the shadows to conceal my presence, open my mind to the paths to my father’s darkest secrets. Help me strike fear into his heart and wrest from him that which he has created. Make me dance into his very lair to drive my blade into his heart, ending one and for all his tyranny over my soul. And usher in a new Sansom in his place” she finished, not expecting anything to happen, but strangely finding a sense of warmth and peace that she had prayed at all.

Interesting, a new experience for me and one worth…exploring. Perhaps she mused.

She crouched then, resting her back against the tree behind her and her forearms across her knees, trying to keep out the numbing cold. She would not sleep this night, she would watch and wait. She expected nothing, but nothing was – in itself – a blessing in some regards.

[Crypt]

14th of Winter, 498 AV (Endrykas, Nighttime) Are you out there, Akajia? can you hear me? My name is Crypt. My father always told me to give my name to anyone I'm talking to, so you can see that I'm learning my lesson! Are you the Night, the shadows that the horses and tents make? My father told me that you would always be everywhere when Night falls, and said that he always wanted to meet you one day. He said that whenever Night falls, and he's guarding... guarding... something with a S, he always felt calmer and alert. He said he loved Night, Akajia, but he's never met you before. Can you meet him, please, just to make him happy for once? He's not as happy as before. I'd love to see you too. I imagine that you're a tall, tall lady with black hair and black eyes and wearing a black dress and... I don't really know what you'll look like. Oh! Mother's calling for me. We're eating deer tonight! I helped Daddy prepare it, and it smells very good on the stick over the fire. Have a good night, Akajia, and if you can hear this, come and visit us! We have deer whenever we can get it, but we have rabbit every few days. I bet you'll enjoy it. What do you eat?

[Dragul]

1st of Spring, 512 AV, Night

The chill still ran through his bones from his nightly excursion. Rubbing his hands he could feel the stiffness refusing to depart. Fingers cracked as he pushed at his knuckles. In the solitude of his tent he wrapped his cloak about himself for warmth. The winter bedroll beneath him kept the warmth from being sucked into the earth, but it too was a little bit cold. He wondered still why he hadn't procured a room upon arriving in Avanthal. However, in light of his coin shortage, and his persistent stubbornness he had opted against such course of action. Perhaps it was the familiarity with a more rural setting that kept him from the buildings. He had spent most of his life in a tent after all, on the outskirts of Riverfall going to and fro as his whim dictated.

He doubted that many would not take heed of a tent propped up within a stand of trees, within a city. No he was sure that many thought him mad, especially given the fact that he was not marked by Morwen, and thus the cold was all to strong for his liking. Yet, the trees did much to stay the wind when it blew, and to catch the snow when it fell. He was cozy for the most part, and had no need for a fire within the city limits. However, it was strange without the sound of Snowfall neighing outside the tent, as was the usual.

As he lay there with the darkness of night hanging all around him, he wondered. Where was his goddess now? What plans were she enacting, cultivating, and giving rise too? What plans did she have in store for him? It was all a bothersome cacophony of thoughts that he preferred to put in the back of his mind. Yet, they always were there, like shadows in the background.

Oh mistress of the night, mother of my people, I call for you now. I call for you knowing full well that you may heed me not, but that changes nothing. I need guidance, for while the shadows have been foretelling they have not shown me the way forward. I shall soon depart with a companion, and I feel that this is a wise decision. Yet, I wish not to go against you, you who have guided me this far. I humbly beseech you for a sign, something to indicate that I am doing your will, accomplishing what you desire.

He paused as he pushed aside the flaps of his tent and stood outside. The moon shone in the sky, and Morwen's Lights-as he had heard them called-loomed high over head. In the bathing of those lights he found the words to finish his prayer.

Even if you do not answer me I shall remain forever your servant. I only regret not discovering more of the turmoil that looms within Avanthal, or the secrets surrounding the Alchemist. These I am saddened by, for I had hoped too share that secret with you my goddess, my mother. Yet, the night is still young.

He waited for a time, in case Akajia would show herself too him, or at least a sign. If not he would head out into the sleeping Avanthal, and gleam what secrets yet stirred.

[Rosela]

Timestamp: 77th of Fall, 514AV

Rosela lay in her bed, staring up at the patterns the fire made along the ceiling. Shadows played at the edge of her vision and danced with the light of the flames. One hand gently lay on her belly.

”Akajia?” She asked softly of the dark. The silence that followed was deeply unsettling and she was half curious, half terrified the goddess would respond. She didn’t though, and so Rosela continued. ”I don’t know if you can hear me, but if you could…” She turned her head to the side, embarrassed of herself. ”I’m so afraid.” Her voice became small and weak. ”I’m so, so afraid. I feel like everything’s slipping out of my hands. There’s so much I don’t know and it's just so utterly out of my control…

Do you remember when you gave me your mark? You said I interested you - I was a gilded fish. I don’t-I don’t feel very gilded anymore…” The tears came once more, hovering just below the surface of their eyes as they always seemed to anymore. In the few days since she’d awoken, she’d cried more than the entire rest of her days in Riverfall. Gone was the old confidence and surety and she didn't know why. ”I feel so weak. I don’t know what’s happening to me. It’s like everyone knows more than I do now and I’m just along for the ride. There’s so much power in knowing and all my power is gone. So many people have disappeared from my life and the little things I know don’t seem to have any value anymore. Orabelle, Reven, Favchean, Riaris – you remember Riaris? He knew something about me, something to do with you. I never got it out of him though and now he’s gone. I’m wandering in a sea of strangers and I don’t know how to get back to where I was.”

She sniffled noisily and scrubbed the tears from her eyes with the back of a hand. It came away smeared with mascara and she let it drop to the bed beside her. ”And I know the Akalaks are your chosen and I’m sure you’re happy to see their race continue through me but…did it have to happen this way? I still don’t even know why – was I attacked because of what I did when I left Ahnatep?” Though she’d never spoken of the murders to another living soul, she knew with certainty that the Goddess of Secrets knew her deepest ones already. ”Or something to do with my shop? What if he comes back? What do I do? If I just knew who it was, I could…” She sighed and sniffled again. ”The knowledge I have, I don’t need. The knowledge I don’t have, I need. I guess…that’s just the way of things, isn’t it?

I don’t really know what I wanted, I guess. The shadows…they’ve been invaluable to me.” She felt their regard turn to her more fully. ”They have been my friends when all others have vanished. You, and they, will always be there.” A small smile, still sad and weak, alighted her lips. ”There’s comfort in that, I suppose.”

[Zen Tanka]

11th if Summer 516 AV Sunbeth, Nighttime The thief lay on his shabby bed, located in the far end of the dusty attic, surrounded by several crates that he used instead of a table and chairs. He didn't bother undressing, after all, he barely managed to drag himself back to what he called home. Rolling to the his side, Hanzo observed the silver rays of moonlight as they passed trough the only window of the room, serving as a dim source of illumination. "Apologies for not standing or kneeling my goddess, but the one punch I received got me quite good." Hanzo uttered, whispering in the darkness as he clenched his stomach. "I wouldn't have succeeded tonight if there weren't for your shadows to hide me. Nor would I have got it as far as I have if it weren't for you." Hanzo added, chuckling as he continued. "But I guess that isn't really far, is it?"

[Kynier]

72nd of Summer, 518 A.V.

3rd Bell

Kynier walked out onto the balcony of the Midnight Gem to view the stary sky and feel the cool kiss of night upon his bare chest. The kelvic he loved was deeply sleeping in the master suite not far from him. The conversation they had at the beginning of the previous morning lingered heavily on his mind. That she was somehow broken. That the urge to bond with him no longer activated despite how much she loved him. And how she looked up at him with those beautiful eyes and asked him to be a mage of superior quality than he was, in order to fix the issue.

Staring at the twinkling stars he leaned against the railing. Desperately he wished to have her bond. To be united in a way he didn't fully understand. But to fix her bond... Kynier had no idea how to do that. Delving into books and researching information lost through the ages in the five century wake of the Valterrian was something he was more than willing to do. Yet he lived in Sunberth, where magic was scorned and the uneducated were rampant. Only one library existed and it held no information on magic.

It was an option, leaving Sunberth. To go to Zeltiva or even all the way to Lhavit, for access to their fonts of magical knowledge. But he had a sacred duty here, in this city. That he couldn't abandon. His hand covered the gold armband on his left bicep, with the symbol of Akajia engraved into its surface. The Nightstalker looked to the stars and spoke to the night.

"Night Mother. I do not intend to abandon the duty you've placed upon me. That of helping your Favored to discover the secrets of the city. Yet, there is something that both she and I... need. Something that is being denied to us. To find the secret would require me to leave for something that feels selfish. And I would send parcels to ask for assistance. But I know no one at the places I'd send letters."

"I only ask for a direction. Do you have a Nightstalker somewhere close to where the secret I desire resides? I would plead for their name, so that I can send a request for their aid. Please Night Mother, this is very important. To both her and I."

Kynier stood on the balcony, waiting and hoping for his prayer to be answered.

Credit for the boxcode goes to Luminescence!

[Gossamer]

The breeze off the ocean died suddenly as if the very earth stood still at Kynier's heartfelt prayer. The shadows the world was enshrouded with condensed, as if inhaled, then expanded as if exhaled, and one lithe deep blue form stepped from the night. Swirling around her were more of her kin, attendants, that whispered in a language Kynier could only newly understand.

She walked forward boldly, as if birthed from the night. Her blue skin gleamed in Leth's light while her head was crowned in Zintila's stars. An affectionate smile lit her face. Bare feet came to a halt before him and she looked up at him, somehow condensed in an almost mortal form.

"You are weighted down this night, Child of Darkness. Your burden's dim your inner light. Life creates such troubles, but the secret to happiness is looking beyond them, and looking deeper. Your gaze is focused outward, your awareness stretched thin in its expansion. Perhaps you've looked to the horizon too long and instead should peer into the eye of the storm itself to find your answers." She said softly, reaching up and touching his cheek.

Love coursed through him, though such things were not her domain. Her eyes, so dark and knowing, met his hazel gaze and captured his attention incredibly thoroughly. She wanted something from him... something in exchange for his demands from her.

"You have served me many lifetimes. This one has been one of the more turbulent ones. For that I have regrets, but I think the trials you undergo are necessary for how you will come out the other side. That forged instrument needs to be carefully wrought because what it will be wielded against is nothing short of the stuff of legends. Those you choose to walk the same path will face the same enemy and you will need all the allies you can get. In this life, Nightstalker, I will ask you to reveal secrets rather than keep them. And you will only understand why when the moment is upon you." Akajia said softly, releasing his cheek and stepping back.

"Ask me one question, Kynier. Just one. And I will answer you truthfully. Then all I will ask in exchange is trust. Trust in me, the shadows, and where we will lead you." She added, then stood quietly, her robes which were made of living shadows even stopped their endless questions. They all waited, each and every one of Akajia's attendants, for his response.

It'd better be a good one.

[Kynier]

When the ocean breeze fell silent the mage had thought nothing of it. It was only when the silence continued that he noticed something amiss. As though Mizahar had decided to hold its breath, Kynier felt the stillness of the world around him. Every inch of his flesh rippled with the sensation of djed as Kynier turned to face the condensed shadows, just in time to bear witness to her arrival. Hazel eyes widened in surprise as he knelt down to a single knee.

His mouth fell agape, ready to speak in reverence. Yet he knew not what title to use, nor how it was that a goddess should be addressed in private audience. In the half tick of the mental vacuum, Kynier chose to cast caution aside. “Akajia,” he said reverently. He didn’t bow his head but gazed up in awe. The goddess’ arrival had truly surprised him. That she did more than answer a prayer but actually appeared to him. It had been the first prayer he’d given since being marked that hadn’t been in gratitude, and if the mage was honest with himself, he hadn’t expected to receive anything directly from the Night Mother.

For he was a young Nightstalker. Not even blessed for a full season and had no accomplishments or secrets to offer the divine being before him. So why now had she appeared and never before? Did the goddess truly have concern for the pair of Nightstalkers? Or was she here to answer the call for her Favored’s aid? The divine was gazing upon him affectionately which added more to his surprise. The embodiment of Night had been cold and appeared curious, at best, of his potential. Now she smiled upon him as she gestured for him to stand.

Kynier obeyed and stood, finding it strange that the goddess’ form was smaller than his own. The divine female spoke softly to him. Speaking of the secret to happiness and the search for it. Akajia spoke in metaphor and as he contemplated on it, she touched his cheek. Her blue skin possessed the gentle chill after a hot summer day, which Kynier had always found comforting. Accompanying that was another sensation that radiated throughout his being. A warmth that wasn’t of the body, for it reached down to the depths of his soul. A soft moan of pleasure escaped his throat as he found himself setting his cheek more into her hand.

In the deep recesses of his mind, Kynier felt Hashimer stir and surge to his surface thoughts. A strange elation he had never felt before from the other voice. It remained quiet, which was unusual. Akajia’s eyes were absolutely mesmerizing. So much that Kynier’s gaze never wavered even to watch the twinkling shine of the crown she wore. Kynier held no vague recollections of lives previously lived. But feeling her touch and the love that surged through him, the mage held no denial that he’d serve her in all his lives. So he could not measure the truth to her words about how turbulent this life was compared to the others.

Questions filled his eyes as she spoke of his purpose and destiny. That he was to make discoveries and… expose them? Trails were approaching that would be worthy of legends and that he had to surround himself with allies to face an enemy. To a mortal, Kynier would’ve interjected with questions. Though he held his tongue, even as she stepped away. The love that coursed through his being faded, leaving him to feel incomplete yet more whole than he had been chimes ago. But the Night Mother did not leave his presence yet. She gave him an invitation which staggered him mentally.

An answer to anything? To a mage that was one of the most precious offers one could ever receive. To a Nightstalker as well. Being both, his mind already begun to formulate lists of the things he wanted to know. Who was Stiletto? Was his mother still alive? And many more. But Kynier forced his thoughts to be still as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening them again, she was still there before him. It wasn’t an illusion or hallucination. So Kynier half turned back to the ocean and set a fingertip under his nose in a contemplative fashion.

Stiletto. He would find that answer on his own. That was a secret worth discovering without divine intervention. His mother. That… that no longer mattered. Fifteen years he had lived thinking… knowing… that she was gone. Kynier would rather leave those old scars alone. Kelski. That was why he had prayed tonight, and why the goddess had appeared. But that was a question already answered. That Kynier was looking in the wrong directions. That he needed to look… inward. To ask again would only infuriate both the goddess and himself should she actually elaborate more, he was certain of that.

His destiny and purpose. Akajia had indirectly guided him his whole life, of that he was sure. To know his enemy now… was irrelevant. It would become apparent to him at the appropriate time. To know any sooner would be of no assistance. A small part of him contemplated asking for the location to any of Areesa Tallshade’s artifacts. Just to spite Bourin. For the old eypharian was obsessed with finding any one of them. But Kynier had never held an interest in finding them. Which left him… feeling like there was nothing to ask.

Nothing for himself.

There were mysteries he had heard that held little meaning to his life. Enigmas the mage could ignore and feel no repercussions for. Except there was one that came to mind. Here and now, because the Night Goddess and mother of shadows stood before him. Something that Kelski had told him about that sounded too whimsical to believe. But if he was to ask a question and forever give unyielding fealty, then the question needed to be worth it. Kynier turned back to face the goddess with his brow drawn together.

The question scared him immensely. Not that he would know the answer, or even that he knew to ask it. It was that he was about to ask it. Something that had been kept from those that had to have been more deserving to know than himself. Kynier feared that the question would offend the divine. So much that his heart was beating in his throat. That his lungs felt empty even as he breathed. A hand took hold of the railing and squeezed tightly as the rest of his body tensed. There was no secret in his life that he wasn’t willing to work for. So then…

“What,” he said with the volume of whisper despite feeling as though he were shouting, “is the great secret that you seek an answer to?” The words were out of his lips and he swallowed nervously. “And what can I do, to help find it?”

Credit for the boxcode goes to Luminescence!

[Gossamer]

The Goddess' penetrating stare met Kynier's and he sensed a judgement passed, a decision made as his question filled the silence between them. She stood unmoving for the longest time, not breathing, not blinking. A statue would have existed with more movement than Akajia showed. If Kynier counted his breaths, ten, twenty, and even a hundred could have passed before she moved again and responded.

"You've wasted an opportunity." Akajia said softly, which seemed to jump start the shadows around her, causing them to swirl and raise their voices all adding in their opinions in their own unique language. It was as if a performer on stage had held the audience in thrall and suddenly released them to raise such a cacophony that swelled as if it became its own living thing released into the wild after countless decades captive. "To further your knowledge and better your life here in favor of only glimpsing mine and what you cannot understand." Akajia said gently, the critique in her voice and in her gaze.

She reached forward then and touched him on the shoulder. Awareness of what she sought filled his mind. Azalivasta Suvakina. The phrase meant something and in a split second of solid awareness he understood. She searched for something all the Gods sought knowledge of. It was a burning question to them as much as it was to humans, though on a whole different scale and on a whole different level. And because her hand was on him and her divine energy filled him, he could for that moment, comprehend what it was Akajia sought. He saw clearly with human eyes made inhuman by a Goddess' touch.

Then she pulled her hand back and with her withdrawal his awareness and understanding fled. She studied him intently then, shook her head sadly, and offered one last piece of advice.

"When a Goddess gifts to you one question, do not ask her for two. Some will not be so lenient as I am. Your progress is stalled, my Favored distracted, and what I want to see happen is not happening. Things must change soon or I will look to others to get done what I wish to get done." She said firmly, then in the same way the world inhaled before, the night swallowed the Goddess up, leaving nothing before Kynier but a drizzly coast choked with the bleakness of Sunberth being slowly devoured by encroaching winter.