Insight to the Meaning of Everything [Satevis]

[Ialari Pythone]

7th Day of Spring, 517 AV

While she did not like the idea of leaving Kajun'tar to his own ponderings, there were things that Ialari needed to tend to before giving the majority of her time to her adopted guest. She had offered, some time ago, to open her Dominion up to Satevis, the Ethaefal who had aided her and other Sykan residents in the journey to the World Gate and all that had occurred as a part of that grand venture.

While she was not one to normally offer sympathy to others, the sad story of a creature having fallen from an existence of divine love and caring was one that touched her in a way she hadn't expected. As she herself was broken, shattered in ways none could comprehend, she felt a tinge of kinship toward the Eth. Although she didn't really understand who or what Satevis was, she had an innate sense that, like her, he was somewhat broken and struggling with that fact.

She'd given him instructions on how to find her cave and what to do when he did. In the meantime, she decided to indulge in some long-overdue time in her Dominion. She'd been away for more than a season, having went through another crazy quest, one of many she'd found herself wrapped up in, the need for a bit of rejuvenation within her Dominion was undeniable.

The cool air with its taste of flowers and earthy scents was relaxing to say the least. She spent the morning wading through the small pool of water she'd established with a bit of digging and controlled rains. Basking on the large flattened boulder in the center, bathed with the sunlight that pillared down from splits in the cavern ceiling filled her with joy and love that she had only been able to find within her Dominion.

She left the Everywhere's Door open, awaiting Satevis' eventual arrival. While she didn't know when exactly he would come, she had a sense that it would be soon. It was a sense that she'd lost touch with due to her absence from the Ukalas. Now, having returned, the feelings, sensations and perspective she'd enjoyed had also come back to her; the feeling of how all things were connected, of how all things happened for specific reasons, was hers once more.

When and if Satevis arrived in the cave, she would know thanks to the open door. With her Dominion stronger than ever, she was slowly gaining a sense of things happening just outside. According to her studies of the Dominion Scrolls, this would only grow. Eventually, her Dominion would begin to bleed out into the mortal world, allowing her actual control over the immediate area as if it were a part of her Dominion.

For Satevis, at the end of his journey to the cave, he would find a strange, arched doorway set in the stone of the cavern wall. Peering through it he would see another world. All he needed was to take a step through.

[Satevis]

The night before Satevis had made up his mind to go see Ialari, he couldn't sleep. That was rarely an issue for him - sleep wasn't often something that he felt like he needed. But it had been more than just simply not feeling tired. It had been a restlessness inside of him, one that only grew stronger each time he looked outside and saw the moon hanging over the ocean. Anticipation and dread, coiling in his gut in equal measure, a feeling like he couldn't sit still in his skin. Seraya had eventually gotten fed up enough to throw him out, so he'd wandered the beach, looking out at the ocean, trying to think and trying not to think at the same time.

For the first time in a long time, he found himself wishing for the dawn. He knew that Ialari would likely not appreciate him visiting her in the middle of the night, but the hours felt so long, and nothing he did occupied him for more than a few minutes.

When dawn finally broke, he gave it a little while longer, to be polite. Then he told Seraya that he had something he needed to do alone.

The Verusk looked skeptical. He had already told Jansen and Kalum that he wouldn't be coming to the Panacea today, explaining the situation to them without revealing any secrets and details and making sure that this was the day they could spare him. He could tell that Seraya was suspicious, that she might even grill him for details later, but she simply shrugged and said that she could entertain herself, leaving him to walk along the path alone.

At the base of the Stair Step Falls, along a winding road that led higher and higher. As Satevis walked, he felt like a man on a pilgrimage. He wondered if that was just wishful thinking on his part. He felt like someone on a mission, someone with purpose.

He hadn't realized until then how long that feeling had been absent from him.

He followed the stream, walking into the cool interior of a cave. The smell of water followed him in. It was something that drew him, a memory that belonged to the body that he was in. Water was precious, water was life. It was easy to forget how much that was true in a place like Syka, that had so much of it.

The inside of the cave was beautiful in its own way, striking, with the pool in the center and the fish that swam in it, but Satevis barely noticed any of it. His eyes were on the door set into the stone, the arched doorway that seemed to lead nowhere in particular. He drew in a breath, realizing that a part of him had doubted Ialari until this very moment, until he saw the door itself.

He could turn around, he realized, looking at the door. He didn't need to go any further than this. He could turn around, and nothing would change. He would go back to his tent, back to ignoring the thoughts that clamored for space in the back of his mind, back to a purposeless life.

He didn't know why the thought was tempting to him. It made no sense. But he had already come this far.

If he didn't do this, nothing would change. He had to.

Before he could think about it too hard, he stepped through, and into the unknown on the other side...

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Satevis

[Ialari Pythone]

As she lay on the flattened boulder in the center of the small pool, enveloped in the warmth of the pillar of light shining down from above, Ialari felt the small disruption to the air and the vibration of Satevis' footstep as he entered the doorway. Then, in her mind's eye, she saw him. She saw him from all angles, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet.

For Satevis, the moment he stepped foot within the Dominion, he was greeted with a flood to his senses. Where he had once been standing in a tropical cave, he now stood in a vast subterranean cavern; the size of which was slightly disorientating. A series of large fissures in the cavern ceiling, allowed filtered pillars of sunlight to shine down on the cavern floor. Vast patches of moss and luminescent lichen covered the walls. While the cavern floor varied greatly in shape and elevation in the distance, the immediate area was rather flat and covered in a well-tended blanket of grass. There were small trees and a scattering of flowering bushes. The air was cool and smelled of a mix of fresh-cut grass and flowers.

Several yards from where he stood, Satevis saw a large statue of a coiled snake resting atop a stone base. It was solid black with silver accents, its body as big around as a human torso. A few yards to the right of the statue was what appeared to be a work area of sorts. There was a couple of tables and several stacks of wooden crates and barrels. Several yards behind the statue loomed a massive, gnarled tree. There were no leaves on this tree, instead a few dozen bodies hung from thick ropes from the branches. They looked to have died in a variety of ways, all quite unpleasant.

From where he stood, Satevis could make out only some details. There was an onset of rot and decay, bulging the eyes and blackening the skin. The tree bore the weight of at least fifty bodies with no apparent effort; which was astounding considering that all of the bodies were those of an isur. There was one with what he could just make out as having a crushed skull, another had daggers protruding from the chest, another looked to have drowned while yet another looked to have been warped and twisted by some form of magic. There was a body that was missing large chunks of meat that looked to have been cut with amazing accuracy. Topping the tree was an almost statue-like figure made of black, silver-veined metal. All of the bodies held one thing in common though, they all resembled Ialari.

Yards to the left of the snake statue was a small pool of water, roughly 20 feet in diameter, with a flattened boulder in the center. One of the pillars of sunlight encircled it. Laying naked on the stone, was Ialari.

Sitting up, Ialari swung her legs over the side of the boulder and slid down into the water. It was about waist deep as she slowly walked toward the edge of the pool, her body lit by the pillar of filtered light. In a soft, welcoming voice, she said, "Satevis, welcome...to my Dominion."

As she stepped from the pool and approached Satevis, she suddenly paused, a slight frown crossing her face. "Where are my manners..." She said with a tinge of disappointment. With her arms at her sides, she slowly raised them, palms open. As she did, a slight breeze began to grow out of nothing. The pillars of sunlight dimmed and vanished; replaced by stars barely visible through the fissures above. This was followed quickly by pillars of moonlight illuminating the cavern. As the moonlight filtered down, Satevis felt the transformation take over as he changed from human to his horned, Ethaefal form. With the change, something else happened. He felt a strange yet vaguely familiar sensation at the base of his skull where it met his spine before it spread to throughout the rest of his body. It was a feeling of warmth and comfort not unlike the feeling of a loving parent embracing their child. The feeling was not overpowering; with an intensity more like that felt when one steps into cool water before their body adjusts to the change in temperature. "Better I hope?"

A soft smile replacing her frown, Ialari walked over to the snake statue and sat down on the base. "I imagine you likely have some questions." She said matter-of-factly.

[Satevis]

Satevis honestly didn't know what he had been expecting when he stepped through the door in the cave, but whatever it was, this blew away even his wildest expectations. He stood there for a moment, frozen in place, as he took in the sight in front of him. The size of the cavern that he found himself in was disorienting, and for a moment, he found himself having trouble believing that such a space could exist underneath Stair Step Falls without the entire structure of the Falls collapsing on top of it. The thought felt silly after further consideration, since everything about this space and the way that he had entered it suggested that this space didn't fit into reality at all.

Still, it took him a while to take it in, the statue of the coiled snake, the work area, the flowering bushes and small trees. The air felt cool and moist against his face, like a pleasant breeze moving through a garden. And yet, he couldn't have ignored the large tree in the back. He felt a shiver as his eyes moved over it, taking in the lack of leaves, the bodies hanging like macabre marionettes from its branches.

There were so many of them. He tried to count them, but gave up halfway through. The sight of them came close to turning his stomach, and he looked away, feeling his resolve start to weaken. He wanted to know what they were doing there, how they had gotten there, if they were even real, but he was afraid of the answers to those questions. Instead, he let his eyes wander again, past the statue of the snake and towards the pond, where Ialari waited.

When he saw her, Satevis quickly dropped his gaze, feeling a rush of embarrassment. He had gotten used - eventually - to the fact that the women of Syka tended to wander around half-clothed, but that had taken some doing. This was a completely different prospect. Ialari wasn't just half-clothed, she wasn't wearing any clothes at all. He listened, however, when she welcomed him into her Dominion.

"Ialari," he began, raising his head and focusing his gaze - very steadily - on her face. He wasn't going to allow his gaze to waver. "Thank you for inviting me." He did his best to avoid seeming like a wide-eyed gawker, but Ialari had no doubt seen how taken in he had been with the scenery when he first stepped in.

What she did next, however, drew all of his attention. When she raised her hands and changed the world from the full light of day to deepest night, his body shifting and changing into his Ethaefalan form to accommodate it, he found himself staring at the sky, at his hands, even at her, in wonder. He opened his mouth to comment on it, but his breath caught in his throat at the feeling that ran through him just then.

Warmth. Like being embraced, being held close. It was a faint sensation, but a part of him longed for it. He wanted to sink deeper into it, to keep the feeling close and not let go.

When she mentioned questions, he was honestly speechless for a moment.

"I..." He cleared his throat, trying again. "I've never seen anything like this. Questions--er, yes, I have questions. I honestly don't know where to start. How did you do this? Where did you learn it? Can it be learned?" Could I, ever, given time and inclination and study, learn to do anything like this? The last question he kept to himself, but he wondered if it might have been obvious, given everything else he had already asked.

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Satevis

[Ialari Pythone]

Sitting at the base of the statue, Ialari observed Satevis’ body language. She allowed her vision to shift for a moment as it connected with her Dominion. It took a bit of focus to accomplish yet not as much as the first time Ialari had tried it. As she opened her senses to her Dominion, Ialari could see Satevis in her mind; she could see him from every angle from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head and all points in between. She watched as his movements revealed the flood of thoughts and feelings that washed over him. A slight shuffling from one foot to the other, rapid movement of his eyes, unconscious fidgeting of his hands and fingers. Then she blinked and her normal sight returned.

She listened as he struggled to speak, his initial questions being ones she’d expected. She knew there were more that had yet to be spoken; questions that she herself had considered when she first entered the Ukalas years earlier.

“My apologies.” She said softly. “I forgot how overwhelming it can be coming here for the first time.” Ialari recalled her first steps into the Ukalas and how she had difficulty believing what she had saw.

“To start, how this all came to be is something I’ll get into shortly. The reason I asked you here however is not to impress, intimidate or confuse you. I asked you here because of what I sensed back in the jungle on our way to the World Gate and because of your interactions with Kultra.” As Ialari spoke, Satevis saw movement around the base of the statue as two snakes, one roughly as long as a person’s arm, the other longer than the average person was tall, slither their way to Ialari only to then begin moving up her body and curling around it. They were pitch black in color, much like Ialari’s arm, with silver geometric patterns decorating their scales. Ialari embraced the snakes and nuzzled their faces as their tongues flicked in the cool air.

“What I sensed in you was noticeable feelings of loss, sadness and confusion; feelings I am all to familiar with. You mentioned how you once existed in a god’s realm only to one day find yourself back in the mortal realm. Being separated like that…it’s no wonder you feel out of place.” Ialari paused for a moment, the look crossing her face showed that she was considering something.

Slowly, she stood, the smaller snake wrapped around her left arm, the larger one wrapped around her leg, waist and torso. “One of the many things my Dominion has shared with me after spending years here is a unique sense for the interconnectedness of all things. It’s not something I control; coming to me at random. It does however allow me to feel certain connections a person or place has to various aspects of life.”

Ialari began to walk around with seemingly no real destination or purpose; walking just to walk. “I am getting ahead of myself though. Understanding what this place is will help you understand who and what you are and how you may fit into this thing we call life.” Ialari paused and turned to face Satevis.

“As I mentioned before, I am a Domineer; the first and as far as I know, the most powerful in untold centuries. As a Domineer, I have the knowledge and skill to form and claim space within the Ukalas and link it to physical locations in the mortal realm. Over the course of several years, I have established a connection with this otherworldly space; a connection that has grown and deepened to the point that, for the most part, it responds to my will as an extension of who I am. While the cavern itself is Izurdin’s doing, everything else you see before you is a part of me and I a part of it. The grass grows because I will it to. The wind blows and the rain falls because I ask it to. The animal life exists here because of the conditions I’ve established.” Ialari glanced briefly at the great tree from which the bodies hung.

“Not without a price.” Ialari looked back to Satevis. “Back to your questions…To answer your first two is something of a story. It is a story of a lost girl, alone and broken, who filled the void within herself with hatred and rage. Driven by a desire to poison and destroy, she left all she knew behind in search of something more…something great that could be used to elevate her people to a greater existence. That quest would lead her to discovery, power and knowledge while also delivering upon her untold pain, torment and sacrifice. It is a story that I feel could hopefully help you in your own quest for understanding. If you are willing that is.” Ialari grew silent as to allow Satevis to respond to all that she had said to that point. She had so much more to show him yet it all hinged on his ability to leave behind all that he thought he knew about his broken existence and embrace something more. She entertained any other questions he had at that point.