Everything between leaving the Shrine and entering Dechtire's Realm was a blur. So much so that I wasn't even sure there was an in between. When I opened my eyes, I was against a large rock, sitting in the convenient crook made in it by nature. I saw a garden and natural scenery all around me, left and right, behind me. I took my first conscious breath of this world, and blinked in surprise. The air here felt different. Harder to breath in some way. The adjustment to it was unexpected. I looked left and right of myself again, before a sudden, unnatural movement caught my attention. A black and red mix of movement ahead of me. My attentive Moon shaped irises shifted over to it, and already guessed what it was. And sure enough, Dechtire O'Faolain was moving toward me. She was still bleeding, I noticed, and that made me worry a bit. She looked pleased to see that I was alright, and rather excited. She didn't say anything, so neither did I.
We both took the time to look around the Garden, admiring. The garden, if this was even most of it, was beautiful, but of course contained an element of otherworldly charm. Befitting. I looked to Dechtire, then seeing her move forward. As she reached for my hand, I lifted it for her without question but with confusion. She grabbed my hand and led me along. I kept even pace with her, easily, as we moved along the cobble stoned path. Why hadn't she said anything yet? She just looked around not even seeming to care in the slightest about her wounds. It worried me. I was about to ask, taking the necessary breath to do so, but then we came to what appeared to be some kind of Altar and a pillar adorned with a rotating moon. I paused to observe these things with curiosity and wonder. My silver, Moon-Print eyes shifted from site to site, until Dechtire approached the Altar -Again, wordlessly. I had to ask now. I moved toward her in just a few steps.
"Dechtire, what are … ?" But just then, as she stepped foot onto the Altar, her wounds began to heal without explanation. I paused again, watching this transpire before my eyes. silent a moment longer, before resuming a serious expression.
"Dechtire, what's going on, you said we're in a rush?" I refused to step onto the Altar, not until she said something.
She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled. Not unlike her yet different. "yes, we are in a rush, this is part of it." She spoke more adult then she normally did. She's normally all smiles and giggles, similar to that of a child. Back in the normal world she, despite her cheerful nature, seemed to have a wall up, but here… she seemed to be at ease.
Dechtire moved to sit in front of one of the pillars on the alter and leaned against it. "we are in a rush for the blood moon" she looked up as I stared her down, then up at the sky to see what she was looking at. My eyes shifted, to watch as the once violet-azure skies were overtaken by a red hue. It looked like blood was pushing away the purple. It was deepest in shade above us, alike any other sky no matter the color. It was strange to watch, and a little troubling –for I knew not what it meant. Though, the last time I checked, a change in the sky's color wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but that didn't make it good either.
"My people worship the moon and it is my duty as priestess to protect this garden, as it was grown and maintained by each priestess before me. I was born to be its protector after my mother"
When she spoke, I looked at her taken back by the openness she was sharing with me, As I looked at her, her red tribal markings were starting to glow. She was looking at me now, smiling away as she always did. That smile could both save and destroy me. I watched her a bit longer as she looked back up at the sky and closed her eyes taking in a deep breath. I almost didn't hear when she started talking to me again.
"Aleron it would honor me greatly if you could come and walk upon the alter." She gestured for me to sit next to her.
I lowered and slanted my brow, then tilted my head back down to level ground, watching Dechtire as she spoke. "Blood Moon..." I could have sworn I'd heard such a term before, thinking about it a brief moment before I stepped onto the Altar i pushed the thoughts aside. When I did the star behind Dechtire started to glow, making her smile at me. If I needed to know, Dechtire would explain. If she didn't, I was free to inquire, I hoped. I took a few steps forward before I paused, and looked around my body as I felt some kind of presence around me.
"don't wry about the wind it is just a noisy thing it would seem" Dechtire referred to it as little more than "the wind", so I didn't worry about it when she was so passive.
After a moment or so, the tempest quelled and it was calm upon the Altar once more. Somehow, it felt even stranger to be here on the Alter. A different kind of strange than what I felt breathing the air beyond it. Looking at her again, my eyes tracing patterns over her body with a lightning bolt's speed. I stopped when I reached one at her stomach, and returned my eyes to her gaze. I moved up the Altar, and sat next to her as she had offered.
"What is the Blood Moon?" I asked calmly as I sat beside her causing her to look at me and put her hand on my cheek. She moved her thumb against my skin. I felt my chest warm up at her touch which made me surprised. What was this place doing to me?
"it is a sight that only happens once in a great while and it would please me if you watched it with me." she moved her hand back to her lap. Which made me grateful. even after this long, I couldn't make sense of a lot of what was going on in this place. I still hadn't exactly adjusted to the air here, but the goings on kept my mind off of it plenty. My eyes were getting distracted by the tribal markings on her body…. As if lured there. They were glowing more brightly then before, weren't they? Even the blood that was on her fur before didn't seem apparently visible to me anymore, nor could I smell it on her. I would remember the sent though, for emergencies.
"Blood moon is a time when the host, that's me, returns to the garden and becomes a part of it." She explained in a matter of fact tone. She was simply sitting there seeming to be happier then I had ever seen her.
My mind has several things on it right in that frame of time… What exactly it meant to be this "lunar Vessel." what this investigative force that had surrounded me in the form of wind was, what exactly would happen with her when the moon did shift into this "Blood Moon" phase.
i watched her eyes as she explained to me "My Energy is given to the garden to help it stay alive, everything here is very much ali-" a gust of wind swept through the Altar cutting her off. making my female Demon companion react as if whispered a cheeky secret or urged into action by an anxious reminder. All I could do was brace myself against the wind. Before I could ask anything, she was up, and she was dancing. This manner in which her body ebbed and flowed with an unheard rhythm, to the chorus of the wind, it was both familiar and yet unfamiliar. It puzzled me, this form of dance that seemed to combine a traditional essence and a special uniqueness. I felt a strange sensation watching her. she had never really let her guard down like this, allowing me to see her genuinely happy. Dechtire's voice distracted me from wondering thoughts. As I turned my silver hues on her again, in time for her to inform me of apparent whispers. Giggling as she did.
"The wind whispers devious things to me."
Seems I'm more perceptive than I thought when using the description of how she reacted. "Devious things...?" I wondered out loud. Just then, Dechtire's markings were pulsating with light, and I was ushered to My feet. She was looking at the sky at the full moon looming overhead, which seemed to pulse with her marking.
"Aleron its almost time"
I moved with slow, even strides toward her, observing around us as a powerful sense of excitement seemed to seep from the environment. Dechtire was very apt in how she told me how this worked. Things were coming alive. I was at her side before I realized it, slowing to a stop, that feeling from before was distracting me. Dechtire had placed her hand on my chest so lightly I almost didn't notice at first. That was when I looked down at my own chest, and saw what I hadn't expected. The crescent moon tattoo emblazoned on my chest, both in my skin and forevermore on my fur, was glowing with a soft, twinkling white-blue luminescence. I stared down at it with eyes open slightly wider than my normal, stern exterior beheld. The pectoral marking glowed to its own rhythm. Not at all like the supposed moon overhead and Dechtire's corresponding markings.
the wind came racing around us lifting us off the ground a few inches. my hand spires of light sticking straight forward, spiking around off the under glow close to my skin, while the twinkling coming off of it seemed to flit outward slowly before beginning to fall like radiant snowflakes. But however low of the tattoo the twinkles came off of, it didn't go lower than a centimeter each before fading out. I watched this, as yet another question entered my mind. Dechtire's markings stopped glowing as well and her moon pendent would begin to pulse with mine. The area around us was Dead silent as rays of light beamed down. Dechtire though didn't seem to be nearly as shaken as I was. She looked like she was trying to say something, my name maybe? Looking around trying to figure out how we would get down, the look that came across Dechtire's face made my hard stop. Before I could even attempt to try and say something. Anything. Her fur… it changed to a silvery gray version of mine. I saw tears … my very soul in that moment ached. Why was she crying? I began to worry, for her face, though not exactly transmitting fear, did not exactly look happy.
The "wind" lowered us back to the alter. Dechtire began to fall to her knees before she could even hit the ground the wind would seem to 'catch' her and hold her up. She said something in her language and then glance at me. From the trance, she seemed to be in I guessed that the wind proceeded to "whisper" to her, followed by dancing with her, and now this! There had to be more to this "wind". Was it safe to assume it, like everything else in the Garden like Dechtire claimed, was also alive? I turned my head to her hand, and reached to take it by the wrist. That was when i saw the change in full. With what appeared to be an all-over wash, Dechtires dark and vibrant mix of black and red fur flushed out in an entirely new color. I blinked, a shimmer mixed of both dark and light shades passing over my Full-Moon irises, as I watched the familiar pattern stain itself into her fur. In a matter of what could have been hours from how long it took to fully realize, I came to recognize why this sight was truly captivating and shocking.
Dechtire's fur, was the same pattern as my manifestation but a few touches lighter. Her fur was a mark less, silver version of my form granted through becoming Part Demon.
"the wind here in the garden use to be a Vessel, and she thinks you are odd to have markings of the moon on you, but i think it's wonderful" Stopping short she looked at me "I think she is jealous of you yet approving for you at the same time." the moon over head started to dissipate in color and in turn Dechtire and Aleron fur would stop glowing, but she would keep her new look even as things died down.
Her explanation of the wind being a former host made me give a defueled expression, but it soon faded in place of an attentive, curious one. I took a few paces forward. "Then the wind really is alive, like I suspected. And so it really has been an animated force giving off a presence."
"I'm Sorry Aleron, it was never my intention to have you in the blessing but at least i know that she likes you" tears fell from her as if a river flowing form her eyes even though shes smiling
I looked down at the ground between Us as I slowed to a stop again, listening as she spoke of something she referred to as a blessing.
"when i became the Priestess of this garden i took my mother's features and pattern, in the blood moon someone in my potion is to never share this with any that are not bound to me" she looked away from me trying to hide her face "i wanted to share this with you anyways for you are dear to me. but it would seem th-" what she was trying to say was cut off by the wind as it leads her into yet another dance.
"But what exactly has been done, here, Dechtire? This is not making any sense." I moved to take a step forward, "Why do you look like M- "
But in that moment, the wind swept her forward beyond her control, and slammed her into the front of my much larger frame. I didn't move an inch backward, and only moved my upper body with the motion of her crash so that the sudden stop was not so jarring and would not hurt her. I put my arms around her. catching her. holding her steady as I set her down on her feet again. I stared at her, and asked after a moment. "Alright... Now what was that about?"
"you would have to ask the wind, and yes the wind like everything else here is indeed a live." She Lingard for only a moment before moving closer to me.
With my arms, still up with hands wrapped around her arms just some inches below the shoulder, I stared down at Dechtire while blinking slowly. "I've never been good at talking to things I cannot see." I relaxed my fingers, having gripped her, but flexed my hands still around her arms to keep her from shaking loose. I let My hands move down lower on her arms, stopping at the meeting point of her elbows. She seems to be showing me affection by rubbing her check to my chest as she was too short to reach my check. Her cheeks were turning redder and redder, starting from a softer shade more on the pink-side, and I could feel the heat off of her blush on my body when she rubbed her cheeks into my chest. The Wind came and brushed against us making Dechtire burry her face in my chest. This had me raising a brow at her. When she put her arms around me I could feel my pulse quicken, a feeling that was all to normal for this world. The reaction to Dechtire in this way still had me questioning.
"i am rather glade you cannot hear the words she is whispering" she said this as she looked up at me "and just so you know" she glance away "my desire to please my mother is what gave me her patterns, and her gifts they were transferred to me" she would really blush now as the wind came back and brushed mine and her cheek.
"You make it sound as though the wind is devious, indeed. But then again, you had said that before." I listened to her carefully. The more she explained, the more my brain was leaping ahead to understand the next thing coming before she got to say it. I would have stopped her for the sake of her apparent embarrassment, but the wind seemed to strike a nerve or push just a little too far after again brushing against our fur, not for the first time.
"um... the only reason i would take on your pattern though um..." she turns away and shouted at the wind in her form of speak and then shyly turn back around...
I couldn't help a blink of surprise when hearing her native tongue used in such a flustered fashion, and looked down at her with slightly elevated eyebrows. I shook my head slowly. She's so flustered that I can only imagine the type of things that are being said. My thoughts were interrupted as she spoke to me in a shy voice.
"is there anything else you would like to know before we go to the springs
"No, I think I need to sort out my own thoughts, as well. When I organize some questions in my mind, I'll ask in a moment that seems appropriate." I went silent, looking over her changes. This new form was surprising to me, and evermore interesting. I didn't think it had any real relation to my transphmation, but for certain it resembled a lighter version of me. I tilted my head a little, the final part of her question making him look confused. "You said springs...?"
Looking at me with a bashful smile she answered my question. "yes springs, there is a hot spring in the middle of this part of the garden it has a large pillar in the middle of it and the water flows through it and back out from the top" walking to the edge of the altar she spoke without looking at me, "now when i step off don't be worried okay" before I could say anything back she stepped off and the cuts that were there before returned thought they were not as bad as before in fact they looked almost completely healed but still very much there. Looking back at me I can see she is still blushing...
I sighed and stepped off the alter and moved to her side. When was the last time I was at a hot spring? It couldn't hurt to go, and she could probably use a soak with her injuries.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" I looked at her a bit startled, when did she move her face so close to mine? I cleared my throat. "nothing, shall we go?"
"Of course!" She looks so happy… I felt a heat in my chest that I couldn't place. What indeed was this place doing to me…..