AN: Stares around before casually pushing this forward
So guess what possessed me over the last three days?
Friday, March 18th, 2011
???, Dark Continent
(Merida Rhosh)
Merida was thinking she was taking things… reasonably well.
For one thing, she was absolutely certain that she was supposed to be dead. As in, she still had a very vivid recollection of dying. Of being basically erased from existence when the God of Darkness had decided to punish Humanity for trying to overthrow Them.
Everything… after that? The time in which she had felt both awake and asleep? Even now, the memories of directly after were far hazier than even her adolescence years. All she knew was that time had simply passed by her in a way she would never be able to quantify and it would probably terrify her later once she bothered to stop and think about it.
More importantly however, was that that state of being had finally ended. Very abruptly at that. Something had tugged at her Existence. Had slowly forced time itself to start meaning something again until suddenly she had fully regained awareness of her own Self.
And she had been a bird.
Instincts had taken over which had prevented her from falling out of the sky in shock but most of the sounds that had come out of her mouth, had they actually been human noises, would have simply translated as cries of terror and shock. The only thing that had prevented her from completely losing it was probably the familiarity of the magic that had encompassed her entire being. It had been one she had seen on a few occasions, rare as it was to witness. Even if the current one on her had been, in many ways, the opposite of what she had seen.
Sure, some of her elders had spoken of the uses of Transformation magic. Of the ability to alter and freely modify one's own body as they deemed fit. But personally speaking, she had never desired such magic! Her own talents had lent more into Wind based spells! Being suddenly transformed into a bird was very much not something she had been expecting!
Shock had lasted for an amount of time that probably would have earned her a slap by one of her combat instructors. As it was, it probably would've lasted far longer had she not happened to look down at that very moment and actually saw what was going down below her.
Grimm. As many as the eye could see littering the entire landscape. Variations she was familiar with. And yet even more that she had never once seen before in her entire life.
Shock and horror flooded her entire body
This was… this was a disaster in the making! This many Grimm together were easily capable of wiping out an unfathomable amount of lives in short order!
Something that several others were realizing as they quickly dive bombed the Grimm, transforming into their more familiar human forms to better combat them.
Merida herself was looking towards where to best land when something caused her to briefly pause in shock.
Salem.
It was hard to forget the appearance of the one who had convinced all of their Kingdoms to rise against their Gods.
And then a thought came to the forefront of her mind.
'She's the reason I died.'
Anger started to overtake her. She was already redirecting her flightpath when the second thought hit her.
'She looks just like a Grimm given a more human form.'
Both of the thoughts slowly merged together. Stoking the flames of her anger.
'She's the reason I died. She looks like a human Grimm.'
Two others were following alongside her, anger radiating off their forms just like her own.
'She killed me. She looks like the Enemy.'
She transformed into her human form alongside the two others. Naked as the day they were born but none of that mattered to her. To them either. Because all that mattered was…
'She killed me and she is the Enemy. Therefore, I can kill her without remorse!'
She unleashed her Wind magic against Salem. Slashed her body to ribbons while making it impossible for her to simply fly away. Scorching Flames on the other side from the guy on her left, immolating the body and reducing it to ash. And finally, an entire lightning storm. All the erratic energy and power of lightning and every single bolt of it directed at the body in front of them!
Just one of those attacks was easily capable of killing scores of people. All three together concentrated on a single person? It was an assault that no one could survive!
And yet.
She and the two others snarled in fury, watching the body regenerate just as fast as they could destroy it. But that didn't matter. If one assault wouldn't do it? Then another! And another and another until there was nothing left to regenerate!
All three of them reached down to pick Salem off of the floor. They were gearing up to possibly beat her to death if Elemental magic wasn't enough.
"—aid, stop it."
And then they stopped. Not by choice. For a split second, Merida was ready to unleash her fury upon whoever would try to stop her entirely justified response. But she couldn't even do that. The Pressure bearing down on her, light as it was, made it nearly impossible to move and that immediately shocked her out of her instinctive anger.
With a sense of wariness, Merida looked backwards. And had to blink as what she saw baffled her.
A young girl, not even old enough to be called a woman, was walking towards Salem now. At first glance, aside from her appearance, she looked fairly… normal? Her style of clothing was vastly different from anything she had ever seen before but the feeling of her magic felt similar enough that, had she not been clothed, Merida probably would've assumed she was another person who had previously been a fellow bird like herself.
But her Magical Presence alone—!
Merida had no idea how she missed it. This girl held Power within her form. So much so that when she automatically tried to gain a measure of it, it shook her to her core. It was like when she had visited the foot of a mountain in her youth. The scale of it had made it nearly impossible for the girl of then to grasp and see it in its entirety. Later on, as she had grown up, she had only ever felt similar experiences when—!
The comparison cut through her mind like a bolt of lighting.
Merida had previously met the Gods of Light and Darkness on two separate occasions. One when she was but a girl, not knowing any better of the Light that seemingly seemed to just Be. And the second occasion had been just before she had died. Having earned her God's ire and seemingly killed for it.
But this… this girl. She felt just like Them.
Merida took a deep breath to calm herself. In the corner of her eyes, she could see the other two men doing something similar.
This girl. She was not equal to Them. That was something Merida was certain of.
There were some minute differences between this girl and Them. Most that she couldn't truly explain even in the privacy of her own thoughts but the Gods of Light and Darkness were unquestionably superior. And yet the fact that the closest thing she could compare this girl to were the Gods themselves?
Just who or what was she staring at right now? Was this Being a nascent God?
She was talking to Salem though and Merida immediately refocused herself on the current situation to not miss out on anything more.
"—hat's the plan now? I gather you were under the impression you could just use attrition to get your way, but how does the math for that work out when I can just bring back everyone you kill?"
Her eyes widened in disbelief. This mass resurrection—it wasn't a one time thing?! But that—!
"Your magic is useless against me, your monsters are useless against me, your spies found, your plots spoiled. You brought your best and I've dashed it against the rocks in a single afternoon."
Merida started at the casual admission. Everything she was witnessing… this was all done in the span of less than a day!?
Salem spoke. "You… You are the reason Cinder stopped communicating with me, aren't you?"
"Put the fear of God in her, yeah."
She immediately exchanged glances with the two fellows with her who similarly gave her their own faces of realization. This was a nascent God!
"Are—" Salem paused and now Merida could hear the Fear contained within the words that followed.
"Are you a God?"
"If I was, do you think you could stop me?"
Confirmation. Merida's knees shook at the blatant confirmation that she was indeed looking upon a new God, young as She might have appeared. Even more so when, without any prompting, no incantation or even a hint of Magic that she could detect, Salem's body starts to glow and condense. Smaller and smaller until finally…
She and the two men (and most likely anyone else who happened to be nearby to watch) gaped as the infinitely regenerating body, the one that for all their powers combined they could not damage or change in any meaningful way, was just transformed into a small black dagger.
Just like that.
She was still gaping when She seemingly summoned Her own blade, one that seemed to radiate a similar feeling to Her and casually flicked the dagger upwards and—!
Merida wished she could say that she had caught it easily and naturally. But honestly? Her reflexes had only just been enough to stop her from dropping the Dagger. The feelings emanating from it were disturbingly close to what she felt from the Grimm whenever she got too close to them. Holding the Dagger that just emits that exact same feeling but on a much higher scale causes her to instinctively wish for it to go away which… happens.
To her utter disbelief, the Grimm are suddenly dying in droves. Nothing is attacking them anymore and yet they continue to simply disperse into nothingness. And in all but a few seconds, the Grimm are suddenly just… gone. And aside from the noises of birds that remained flying above (presumably people who hadn't been trained as warriors), the battlefield was almost entirely silent as everyone looked towards… Her.
"Well. That was certainly a workout. Sorry about the abrupt, well you know…"
The sheer casualness in that statement baffles Merida. As though the entirety of what She had done was all simply a whim. That alone causes her to immediately kneel in respect. And others follow suit until only She remains standi—actually there's one other person still standing at the end which garners a look from all those present.
He is the only other person wearing clothing aside from Her which means that he had been with Her before all this started which… implied many possible things. Especially when the two of them seemed to share a Look. One that seems to convey so much understanding because, almost immediately after doing so, She leaves. Just as suddenly as She had entered their lives, their new Goddess was just… gone.
Vanished with nothing to mark her own existence except for the odd portal in reality. The one that she could see had eyes peering out of it.
Leaving behind the man.
In the face of the many eyes that seem to stare directly into her soul (despite none of them actually looking at her directly), Merida doesn't know what gives her the courage to do so but slowly, ever so slowly, she raises herself up from her kneeling position. The man turns towards her as she does so, and though he appears to be giving her a carefree smile to seemingly help her relax, she cannot. This is someone who evidently stands equal alongside their new Goddess. She can feel her own grip upon the Dagger tighten in response to her own stress but she forces the words out of her mouth.
"You. You are her Herald?"
It is the only thing that makes sense from her limited understanding of how the Gods of Old had worked. It had happened rarely but prior to their rebellion, the Gods had occasionally sent people to convey Their words to the people.
The man simply blinked at her before casually responding.
"Yeah, something like that."
He then proceeds to do… something. She can feel it in the air but whatever it is isn't something Merida can tell. Either way, confirmation. Or something akin to it. Possibly not a Herald in function but having a different role to Her.
Their unknown Goddess.
Merida can feel the question forming on her tongue. She's… well, she can't say she's dying to ask since she now knows what that feels like but a feeling of urgency is swelling within her. She desperately wants to know the name of their new Goddess. Who they have to thank for this second chance.
"Please. What—" she stops herself short, unable to bring forth the question when her eyes suddenly glance around to view her surroundings.
Everyone is looking at her. Not in fear. Not in a plea to be silent. No, their faces probably reflect her own.
Desperation. Yearning. A desire to know. She was simply the only one who had had the courage to talk at this point. And why? Unbidden, her eyes return to the Dagger held tightly within her grasp. The Dagger that She had seemingly gifted her before leaving. Did… did the Goddess see something in her to give her this Dagger?
Surely not, right?
Merida was many things. A hard worker for sure. Friendly to those close to her, possibly a bit more mischievous than appropriate at times, but friendly all the same. Gifted in the art of Wind magic but definitely not a natural genius. A little scatterbrained at times but again, she considered herself to be fairly average. Most people in her experience were like that.
And yet…
Something had clearly stood out to their Goddess to deem her of all people fit to wield this Dagger. And if… if her Goddess believed in her so…
Without allowing her own hesitation to overtake her, Merida pushed past her anxiety. "What do we call her?" she whispers the words out, reverently and with as much respect as she can muster in the moment.
A moment… that is utterly broken as the man loudly breaks the silence, his loud voice echoing loudly in the prior stillness. In the distance, she can even see several others jumping in minor shock at the loudness of his voice.
"My Master goes by many names!"
Unbidden, Merida wants to strangle him. She doesn't need to know the various Titles that their Goddess has likely acquired over the course of her Existence! They all—She just needs to know who they were meant to worship now!
And perhaps whatever expression was starting to form upon her face clued the man onto her inner thoughts as he immediately quiets down and speaks a bit more seriously.
"Buuuut mostly they call her Nexus back home."
"Ne…xus," Merida mutters with a frown.
She doubts that that is their Goddess' true name. More likely it was connected to Her primary Domain, similar to how her old Gods were simply referred to as the Gods of Light and Darkness. Which… had certain implications if she took it at face value.
Nexus. From what she remembered, that word had many broad definitions that were mostly tied to connections in general. For a God, any God, to so boldly claim such a broad term as their primary Domain…
She can't help but briefly glance at the two behind her. She can see how they've likely come to similar conclusions going by the expressions upon their faces. It likely matches her own. One of deep contemplation. And considering how easily the three of them had reached that same conclusion, this despite the fact that none of them had ever known each other prior to this… Yes.
Their Goddess claiming that Domain as Her Name is fitting.
"Yeah, you know, like… the point where everything connects?" he continues to explain, needlessly in her opinion. She actually has to struggle to not openly twitch in annoyance at the implied hint of her not being intelligent enough to understand this.
"Yes… I believe we do."
She's proud of herself for not showing any of her forming annoyance in her tone of voice. Despite her quickly forming opinions on the individual himself, the man still stands equal to Her and deserves her respect.
Especially since, with… Nexus gone for the moment (Merida waits to make sure she won't be smited for even thinking Her Name and continues her thoughts when nothing happens), this man is the only one who might possibly know what their Goddess would want from them.
"What would She have of us?"
A dangerous question to ask, unquestionably so. For a mortal to question the motives of a God in any capacity and then expect to survive the aftermath is a dangerous gamble. But it's one she has to take. If their Goddess took offense to that line of questioning, there wasn't much the lot of them could do to survive Her wrath. But it's a question that needs to be asked. Truthfully, her gratefulness for a second chance at life gives their Goddess a lot of leeway in what She could ask of them. But, even if it had ended with their deaths, they had rebelled against the Gods of Old once before. If their Goddess desired something that they were all against, they would do so again.
Merida was looking warily at the portal in reality that their Goddess had left behind. The eyes were still aimlessly staring outward at nothing in particular. The entire time when she was talking, especially the moments where she was asking questions directly about Her, she was almost waiting for the eyes to just focus on her. Though, if that had happened, Merida wasn't sure what she'd have done in response.
Run in terror? Prostrate and beg for forgiveness? Make a line in the ground and dare her new God to cross it? Either way, that did not come to pass and Merida didn't have to answer that question.
The man simply shrugs, as casual as he had been since the start of this.
"She's big on free will. Just… don't be evil, I guess? You know, normal stuff for this place - kill the Grimm, help people."
The amount of solace she draws from those words is immense. As is the amount of disbelief she feels at the utter… mundaneness of the statement. That's… that's it? If the moment wasn't so serious and everyone wasn't staring at her, she would've collapsed in relief.
As things stood, she took a moment to gather her composure before immediately agreeing to those terms. She would've been a fool not to.
"—before someone comes to investigate."
"Her Will be done," Merida nods before immediately freezing upon realizing that the man had still been talking. Hopefully she hadn't just agreed to something that they'd all come to regret down the line. She was gonna need to talk to one of the two guys behind her to catch that last statement.
"Ah…"
Interestingly enough, that actually causes a noticeable reaction. Her words, not her actions. What the man says afterwards though? It confuses her.
"Maybe don't do that. She's not big on worship either. Seriously, just don't be jerks or people will blame it on my Master."
That… There was a lot of things she needed to analyze within those statements. Even with how simple they appeared on the surface.
Firstly… Nexus not being… big on worship? What did that mean? If she was going on context, the only thing that made sense was that She, Nexus, didn't want to be worshipped as a God? But that—that didn't make sense! Nor was it even a viable thing to accomplish. Even in her mind, Merida couldn't refer to Nexus with anything less than her utmost respect. No doubt that was the same for everyone else present.
Secondly, why place so much emphasis on them not being… "jerks"? It was a reasonable request of course, but now that it was being reiterated to her, Merida couldn't help but relate it to something the man had said earlier.
'She's big on free will. Just… don't be evil.'
Telling them that they were free to do as they wished but immediately putting a limitation (incredibly minor as it was) on what they could do. As oxymoronic as it was, there had to be something she wasn't grasping. Something connect—
Her eyes widened minutely as she realized why this mattered.
Connections. Nexus had all but proclaimed what She valued with Her Name. And going by Her actions taken thus far, She obviously valued the more intrinsically "good" type of connections. Their Goddess had already made a loose connection between Herself and them, but previous things were coming to light the more she considered things.
They had just fought in a major battle. A very rare type of battle where one side could easily be described as "Evil". All of them fighting alongside one another against a foe, fighting as one. Even further bonding them all together. She could even see various little clusters of people standing within their own distinct groups, most likely made up of the people that they had just fought alongside with. Merida herself was thinking of the two that stood behind her with respect since they had been the ones to fight with her directly against Salem. And yet, despite the groupings, she didn't consider any of them as against one another. The groups that they had formed were simply just the group of people they'd be most comfortable with.
They were a united people. Bound by one of the purest of Connections. Unity.
Had… had that been their Goddess' intentions?
Was that what her Goddess wanted from them?
Well… if that's what She wanted from them, Merida would have no problems telling people to maintain the peace amongst themselves.
The man at this point continued to discuss how She would wish for them to act, truly highlighting how much their shared Goddess desired only the best of Connections to maintain. She nodded to each of them. They were all things that any functional society should have maintained but perhaps her Goddess had seen otherwise in her travels? Eventually the man nodded, seemingly pleased that she would carry and maintain the first Edicts of their Goddess. More would surely come but if they were similar to the ones she had already been given, they'd easily be adopted by the rest of people present.
And just like Her, he steps through the portal which proceeds to also vanish. The collective breath that everyone had seemingly held during all of that is suddenly released. A multitude of conversations spring up as everyone immediately turns to talk to their neighbours about what had just happened. Honestly, Merida can't blame them. Even if parts of her want to just relax like the rest of them, certain things probably needed to be done before things could settle.
Footsteps signal that the men behind her are casually approaching her and she turns around to meet their gaze. The one with red hair immediately grins and elbows the other who merely rolls his eyes in good humour.
"Hah! Told ya'! I know that look in your eye, Boss," he nods towards her before continuing. "You got a plan?"
"Plan? Uh… yes?" Or at least the beginnings of one. More importantly though, "Why're you calling me boss?"
He merely laughs in response which allows the other one to calmly answer her question. Even if she could see amusement dancing in his eyes while he speaks.
"Several factors. One, you were the only one who actually managed to speak their mind during all that. I can't even begin to imagine how you managed to do so. That alone garnered you a lot of respect."
He wasn't even giving her the decency of looking directly at her now, the asshole. Just glancing at the surroundings with an eye of bemusement which… Merida actually took a moment to see what was so amusing to him. And very forcibly did not allow her internal 'meep' to become external for the two guys in front of her to hear.
Everyone was staring at her with awe and respect. Well… almost. Some were looking at her with… not worry. But something akin to it. And the only reason she hadn't noticed it before was that those looks weren't technically being directed at her. More specifically, their pointed looks were actually directed a little lower towards…
"Ah, finally noticed the other thing, did ya'?" Red-head said.
"Indeed," Calm-voice stated. "Everyone saw the moment you were given the Dagger. And the following moment when the Grimm all died." A pointed look towards her. "A potent power."
She automatically grimaced. Both at the implied point but mostly because of how off it was.
"Less of a Boon than you might think," Merida admitted to them, causing them to straighten to hear her words. "This Dagger… It is powerful, yes, but… it feels more akin to holding the leash of an incredibly dangerous beast."
Even now, Merida could feel the Dagger's power and how it desired to be unleashed. It hadn't been acting up when Nexus had been present. But now? Seemingly away from the God that had leashed it? Faint whispers in the back of her mind of what she could do should she simply let loose with it. All while ignoring the fact that she could… maybe, safely use it for a grand total of 10 minutes before utterly exhausting herself for a week. And that was with all of her training and knowing exactly what she was capable of. If anyone less experienced in wielding Magic tried to use this thing? It'd most definitely kill them before unleashing something incredibly disastrous to the surroundings.
"Ah… So a Burden then? Bit more ominous," Red-head said in response even if his smile had dimmed only the slightest bit.
That word seemed slightly more appropriate but… no. Even if she had only been in Her presence for a short amount of time, that didn't seem to be what their Goddess wished of them. Something She had said from before was on the edges of her memory.
"—a whole civilization here killing them off—"
Ah. The true Reason for their existence. The Grimm had always been a threat. Just much lesser in scope than the levels she had just witnessed. If this continent was truly the origin point for all of them?
"No, a Duty," she stated confidently and solemnly.
The two men started at that but after a moment of thought, nodded to her words.
"Aye, that certainly fits more."
"Indeed."
The solemn moment was broken when the red-haired man suddenly clapped his hands together. "Alright, Boss, you said you had a plan, right?"
"Yes. But… just like that?"
Did they not have any worries about suddenly following her lead on this?
Calm-voice merely shrugged. "Well, we reserve the right to make comments if we see something off but well," gesturing to the Dagger, "She gave you that for a reason. Lead well and listen if we speak and we shall follow."
"...Even though I still don't know your names?"
How could they be so accepting of this?
Red-haired just laughed before pointing to himself. "That's your worry?! Name's Onvan Tusvak!"
"Galehiem Steruv. And yourself?"
"...Merida Rhosh."
Onvan grinned. "See? Now we're friends! Now come on!" he yelled, pulling her while Galehiem trailed behind them. "What's the current plan?"
Unbidden, a light grin started to come over Merida's face. Sure, there were plenty of things to worry about. How they were going to convince so many people to follow her lead on this. How to safeguard this Dagger to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. How to Live after having been Dead. What it would mean to interact with those who currently lived. So many things to worry about. But, as she was slowly taken in by Onvan's energy, she let out a laugh and slowly started to just spew out all the things that had been brewing in her mind.
"Well, first we need to sort out injuries. Make sure no one's in danger of dying in the immediate short term. Then find the ones good at large scale Terrain manipulation since we'll need to quickly grow a lot of crops to feed us and—"
This would continue for some time. So many conversations, so many tasks to delegate, so much to do!
And yet…
When Merida finally went to sleep, late into the night, it was with a content smile on her face. Even if it was only the beginning, Merida hoped that if Nexus ever came back, She'd be proud of her.
AN: Let the Misunderstanding Comedy Hijinks continue!
Basically an alternate POV of the last chapter. Aka Projection Quest from an outsider's perspective who has none of the correct context for the situation.