Concordia's Elements

The world is silent, a wind blowing through the changing leaves of the trees. Sun painted leaves are blown free from the branches, dancing in the air as if there was nothing wrong with the world. The sun filters through the clouds above, giving a soft warm glow to the chilled day. Many people are seen bundled up in coats and scarves, milling through the streets and talking to one another as they tend to their errands. There is laughter and whispered concerns about the state of the world. Small children skip along the sidewalk to their school while adults walk to their work with a sigh.

The word on everyone's lips was the news of the recent disaster that had taken place. A farmland to the east has grown barren of crops over the weeks, and whatever crop did bear fruit would be rotten and poisoned. Many of their livestock have either died of starvation or from eating the polluted fruit that dropped from the vines. Recently, even the grass that has grown on its own without human touch has gone bad, infecting cows and sheep alike with illness that shortly led to their deaths. The wool of the ill sheep would fall off in dry brittle strands and the milk from the cows sour mere moments after being milked.

On top of a hill, a simple temple rests with its doors wide open to those that wish to enter, waiting for people to gather inside as usual. The difference about this day however was that today was the date that those that have answered the call to help mend and cure the Godbeasts would gather to join the lone woman that called out for assistance in her journey.

Sitting before the simple alter, she waits for them to arrive, back to the door and head bowed in prayer to the Spirit of Unity.

Hethez looked really out of place.
Truth be told, he had surprised the emperor when he said he wanted to go on a journey. His kind had lived fairly isolated for as long as was remembered and records of an Anraje leaving their lands were far and few in between.

But Hethez knew he had to leave, he had felt it; the elements had told him. He was thankful when the emperor had shown support for his cause and provided him with supplies for his journey.

He was now sitting on a bench, attracting the attention of several passers-by. He was not dressed for the weather, with his decorated chest completely exposed and as a matter of fact, Hethez did actually find it rather chilly; he had simply learned to not let it bother him.

He took a last bite out of a piece of dried meat, casually throwing the leftovers to the ground as he contemplated the fact that it didn't taste very gpod. He grabbed a hold of his staff and he pushed himself up, it's chimes quietly playing their little melody as he moved it. And then he start moving towards the temple he saw in the distance. He didn't actually know if that was were he needed to be, but he had this feeling it was.

He usually had "this feeling" and it was usually right.

Waylon sat not on a seat, but on the floor with a seat he found as a legrest far higher than his head. The position looked uncomfortable, but he found it rather enjoyable. Surely there is someone else they've sent. Some officials, professionally trained soldiers. Investigators of some sort. Perhaps we're only here as a scapegoat, because those sent before us were secretive, and we're the ridiculous ones to take the credit. Or maybe they're so frightened, they really are willing to turn this kind of thing over to anyone who's willing... Would that really be fear? Precaution? Huh. He looked around him. So many were here, and he figured that comparitively few would make the journey. It was in the nature of sentient races to be curious.

He scoffed a little to himself. All the ones who intend on hearing a speech and then splitting... They disgust me. They think they're intelligent. They're just doing what others think they should. Conforming to a predetermined standard of not what they would do, but whatever god, prophet or science they follow dictates they should. It seems that even in the short time since I last visited town, people have become even more incapable of independent thought. THAT is intelligence, not thinking you're smarter than the system by doing whatever your friends are doing.

Waylon's attention was drawn to a somewhat decorated man sitting on bench. Judging from the way he dressed, he was a foreigner. Maybe a bit materialistic, but Waylon doubted he was here on anyone else's accord. Nobody traveled that far because somebody thinks you need to conform. Yes, HE at least knows what he wants... Waylone rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he watched the man's every move, every time the back of his head tilted this way or that, every finger twitch.

Something in this place jarred with him.

Aollux look upon the temple, every bone in his body screaming at him to turn and leave. He had no idea why; an average enough temple on a hill. Nothing too out of the ordinary. And yet he felt this incredible urge to leave, to go elsewhere, anywhere elsewhere, anywhere but here. Of course, this completely and utterly defeated it's own purpose; without it, Aollux would have simply wondered on. But now his curiosity had to be sated, and the only way to do that was to investigate. He walked on, every step feeling, well, wrong. Like there was a cliff, and the closer he got to the edge the closer he got to falling off and being unable to ever turn back. He wondered what this feeling was. Could it be the Godbeasts? The connection his race shared with them, trying to keep him away from this temple? If so, it was where he needed to be. The corrupted deities needed to be stopped. No, more:

They needed to suffer. Maybe not them, specifically, for their corruption need not be their own fault. But whatever was the cause, he wanted to do more than kill it. He wanted to break it, to take it's skull in his hands and rip out it's eyes, cut it to pieces and shred their organs in front of them. The Dioskouroi, his people, had been laid to waste by the corruption. He would avenge them. No ifs, or buts, whatever had caused it would regret its own existence, curse its own mother for bring it into the world. He would make sure of it.

A crowd had gathered outside the temple. Humans, mostly. One...snake...person...Aollux had never seen the likes of it before. Two meters high, blue scaled....left arm entirely absent. The lizards at home could regrow their limbs. Evidently not a trait this race shared. He did not want to join the crowd. His grey skin, strange clothes and inhuman face had caught him the attention of lone travelers, and they had not been pretty encounters. He puller his hood of his cloak up over his head, hoping not to catch attention.

The woman lifts herself off the ground before the alter, sensing now the people that await outside the open doors. She was curious as to why they haven't entered the temple rather than stand outside where the air was cooling as she pondered. Brushing hair from her eyes, she walks to the door with a pleasant smile. Her eyes rested on the group before her as she walked out, her robes whisking behind her as she rested a hand on the door.

"Welcome. You have come to aide me, yes? I do hope that is the reason you haunt my doorway, rather than decide to merely gather for lack of place to go."

The woman than scans the people before her, her sideways pupils taking in all she could gather from the mob before her. For many years she has watched the many races of the world come and go from the temple, always keeping herself hidden in the rafters above the humble hall below. She could see a human with little interest in the world, a older fellow with reptilian qualities and a grey-skinned fellow searching for his hood. Her smile grows wider, tips of two fangs poking over her lower lip. She brushes back her hair again, hooking them behind her horns.

"I am Reva. The one that lives in this temple...and the one that gave out the call of aide in hopes that I would attract warriors and fighters that will give me protection on this quest."

She then lifts a hand, each finger ending with a claw. She motions to the terrain around them, the sickly trees and the weakened animals, to the moral of the world around them with a small frown.

"All that was once beautiful and pure has been tainted by a unknown cause. I seek protection and aide in my quest to heal and cure the Godbeasts...for I believe that by doing this, we can find the cause for all this discord."

She turns back to the people before her, her amber eyes glowing as she steps under the shadow of the temple.

"Are you here to help me."