White clouds occlude a sky of grey stone, a faint drizzle of rain coating the earthy ground in a sheen of specular reflections. Mountainous spires of rock loom behind the soft mist of the horizon, muffled lights poking through the white sky just enough to light the world. The thick scent of precipitation and mud carries through the air, transported by winds of wavering intensity. "Does this look familiar to anyone?" Aleph asks the group, slowly roaming forward. "I've definitely been to this layer before, but not this location." Fluffy responds, humidity dragging his beard into a slightly neater mess than usual.
"Get on. The search will be faster if we fly." Aleph spreads her wings, bending her legs as the group clambers into place upon her back. Crack! Tiny droplets of rain batter the group as they gain height, wings stretching into a controlled glide across the rapidly shifting terrain. "Where do we go from here?" "Anywhere. Just keep an eye out for familiar landmarks." The rain grows in intensity as they soar, then fades as they persist, fog dissipating into clear horizons of stone speckled with patches of greenery and small forests. Terrain rapidly shifts below, grassy plains giving way to wide lakes, giving way to swampy marshes, giving way to precipitous ravines. Clear skies become cloudy, become windy, become clear again. Endless swathes of smooth land and precipitous mountain ranges sprawling across an endless horizon, the world's scale a stark defiance to its cavernous nature.
Mountain after mountain, forest after forest, storm after storm, rest after rest, and the steadily growing realisation that what they are searching for, is a mountain in a continent. Aleph lands between the narrow points of a mountain peak and its corresponding stalactite, the terrain around her a heterogeneous collection of dynamically blending biomes and landmarks, none bearing a shred of recollection. "Still nothing. How long have we even been on this layer?" "Let me check... Wow, this is so much easier with a better connection. Three days. It's mid-day right now." "Then let's eat. I'll go hunt something and bring it here."
Through the eyes of an eager chef
Fluffy watches the dragon swoop down from the peak, stretching his arms as he steps his own way down. "Well it's Teach, so we can expect her to bring something enormous. I'll get the firewood." Hopping down and beginning a leisurely stroll to near the foot of the mountain. Accompanied by the gentle brush of warm wind, he finds a nice looking tree and uproots the entire thing, bark crunching and earth crumbling as he hoists it to his shoulder and strides his way back.
Through the eyes of a one trick chef
"Well, it's the elf so we can expect him to bring a whole tree or something stupid like that. Let's just clear some space." Lyla sets to work, picking up giant pebbles and pushing away enormous twigs while the monkey simply grabs the earth and peels away a layer to leave behind a flat surface. "Well, thanks for the help. Could've done it without you though." The trio gather stones into a large ring for the camp fire, a neatly organised structure which falls apart with the heavy crash of leaves and bark. Knew it. "That was quick. Where's the-" Another slam rustles the dead tree, the empty eyes of a deceased basilisk staring Lyla in the face.
"Too much." "Is it? I thought it would be just right." "I'm not spit-roasting something that won't even fit in Avilar's dome." "Who's what now?" "How did you even fly with this thing? I've seen houses smaller than this." "I just flew. Same way I always do. Anyway, what you don't want I'll just have. It's already dead, so no use letting it go to waste." Lyla sighs at the dragon, skittering back to repair the fire while the elf carves the kill into more sensible portions.
Wood is split apart and lit by golden palms, rapidly building a roaring pyre of flames as Lyla constructs spits from the loose twigs. Pulling up the makeshift construct, she pauses as the fire meets her gaze. "Demon... What are you doing?" "What? You guys get to eat. I'll have you know that some types of fire light are actually quite the delicacy in some places. I'll help you keep the flame going, so just don't mind me." "Sitting in a fire is a delicacy?" "Well, this is just a boring wood fire, but it's a nice snack at least." I'm surrounded by weirdos... So declares the poly-sapient arachnid preparing to spit-roast a high-volume snake.
Meat crackles over the flame, suspended and turned as the rich scent of evaporating oils seasoned with rough hints of carbon puffs through the air. The slow process is accompanied by the formation of a smooth rock plate, atop which the sizzling pops of stone-cooked steaks saturate the smoke with a metallic sapor. As they reach their fruition, Lyla immediately steals the best pieces for herself to nibble. The others distribute, chomping, chewing, and guzzling the tender meat with gusto. Piece by piece Lyla strips apart her prize, peeling and munching away with an almost religious patience.
As her nibbling comes to a close, the group gather closer, the dragon still mercilessly ravaging the remainder of the serpent while the demon tries to shake the accumulated soot from her dress. "Lil' Blue, you're good at tracking time. How long were we in Nilalus?" Lyla looks up at the elf, still chewing her pedipalps clean. "About a quart. Actually... Exactly a quart. We were there a while." "Hmm... I suppose so. What season will it be on the surface now?" "It's almost the last quart of a falling year, so we're getting to winter. Centra is pretty tropical though, so I don't expect to see much snow in the region of Labyrinth City." "Quite the exotic name, I wonder what it means." "Right... I forgot you don't speak English. It's pretty on the nose, basically the same as calling it Nilasuun'laleus." "Huh..."
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"What is this city like?" "I too am curious." The demon and monkey scoot in, ash trailing behind the shimmering figure and rubbing off against the lumbering ape. Gee, curious today aren't we... Well, I'm not one to deny knowledge to the young ones seeking to tap into my vast swathes of wisdom. I'm a great teacher after all! "It's a confusing mess of politics and rivalry with the capital. Tourism is like nothing you've ever seen because it's the nexus for domain portals and home to the only real entrance to the labyrinth." "I don't know about any of that, but they host some incredible festivals. Being the political centre of Centra gives them a dazzling variety of cultural overlap. I've never visited the other domains, but I feel like I've held the authentic experience of all their cuisine just from the restaurants alone. You say it's a falling year? They'll be hosting the reverence festival by the year's end then. Their crown piece of ancient cultural history." "They've already started preparing..."
Reverence festival, huh? Didn't my war with the stray cat bastard take place during one of those? I wonder...
Through the eyes of one who has never cooked
Aleph tosses the final piece of the snake down her gullet, a beast once in excess of ten times her size devoured and burned away into energy. Shaking herself clean, not that dirt would cling to her anyway, she strolls back to the group and lays down. "Dragon, you know about weird things like true names. Settle this debate." Did I just walk into an argument? "The Progenitor. Their true name is Nila, right?" "It can't be, Lyla. They are two separate beings, Ni and La." "This rejected drawing of a child's doll refuses to understand. Ooh, that one's good. I should write it down..." A deep sigh escapes the dragon, her thoughts carefully navigating the pieces of her scattered memories to consolidate her understanding.
"First of all, you both have a misunderstanding about true names. The word is merely a part of it. A true name describes an identity, the whole of one's being. Everything from age, personality, and even your location can affect it. And the confusion you're having over which word is more correct is probably intentional." "Wait, so is it neither or something?" "Yes and no. Consider, everyone seems to have a different name of them, a different understanding of their identity. To the Haven Kin, they are god of precision La and god of creativity Ni. To the surface they are ruler of the labyrinth, the Progenitor. To the inhabitants of Nilalus they are Sosa, their eldest leader. And to the divine beasts they are Nila, Mother, and Father. It's convoluted by design."
"If you want to be pedantic about it then you're both correct. The fact they are both two beings and one is an intrinsic part of their identity." "Okay, that's nice and all, but... Which of us wins?" "Me." ""..."" Aleph stands once more, stretching her body before stepping to the edge of the peak. "Let's go. You can finish digesting while we fly." Small forms clamber upon her back, neck, and head as her wings shoot out and she hops the edge to glide down. "Which way are we going now?" Fluffy yells through the wind. "No clue." Aleph replies with the wind. "See if you can find another basilisk, preferably a big one. I have a hunch." "Sure."
Soaring her way to where she found her lunch, she lands. Several serpents rear their heads toward the intruder, immediately launching away from the beast which killed and ate one of their own not too long ago. "Now what?" "Follow the biggest one." Before it can flee, Aleph bolts towards the largest of the serpents, tailing the panicking beast as the others scatter away from it. "Basilisks have incredible stamina for chasing prey and fleeing, as well as enormous territories. If you can scare one of of the ones too big to hide, it will flee to safety no matter how far it must go. And what safer place is there than its nest?" Ah, I see!
Earth is torn as the lumbering beast plunges its way through the terrain and onto a smooth network of obsidian trails, swiftly weaving the paths with a desperate efficiency. The dragon remains relentless, effortlessly charging after with no signs of building fatigue on either side. Hills blur past, mountains swim by, the never-ending chase testing the serpent's limits until Aleph halts her charge, a familiar sight gracing her eye. "We're here." A spire of white, standing in stark contrast to the grey stone and reaching through a layer of clouds to brush the ceiling. "So they kept using it as a nest..." Hm?
"You've been here too?" "A couple times. The last time I was here was when I was attacked by the apex basilisk. Bit of a tragedy, really..." "You killed that thing?" Aleph looks upon the enormous skeleton, skull half-crushed and spine coiled into a pillar. "Unfortunately so..." "I guess that's why it still had so much lingering Aether. It died relatively recently." "If you call years ago recent, then sure." "Aether can be pretty persistent." Aleph leaps into the air again, gliding towards the titan's remains. "If I recall, those geysers are where we rested upon reaching this layer, and above the skeleton should be a hole reaching up several layers." "We still need to get your yinthong stone, right? Will the mountain lizard still be there?" "Probably. Didn't seem like the moving type."
Landing by the geysers, the group come upon an old campsite of discarded charcoal and stones strewn across the ground, overgrown with moss and ivy. "I'm surprised this is still here. Would've expected it to wash away by now." "It hasn't even been a year. Speaking of which, your birthday is in forty-five days. You want anything?" "Spit-roast something for me." "Food... That figures." "Let's go. We should be close now."
Date: 2nd day, 1st falling quart, 1231st cycle since the calamity. I have little of note for today. Only that more of my records have been stolen. Once again, it seems the thief is targeting anything relating to the great wars or to angels and demons. Something is being hidden, kept from the public, and I want answers. I will see that my security is increased as of today, my records are to be moved to a more secure location away from the city.
- Personal notes of the eldest being on Ao
