Obstinea Mountains Westward Trails

[Jackie Cat]

The 'frontier' is the limit of settled land, the border beyond which there is only wilderness. Of course, very little of the world is truly unpopulated. The western frontier was not the end of civilisation – only a boundary between one kind of civilisation, and others.

The road west out of Frontier Town was even more basic than the unpaved highways used to get into town. At times it was little more than a suggestion, a bit of flattened grass, a stile set into a hedgerow, or a simple bridge of rope-bound logs. Travellers simply had to find their way based on infrequent signposts, directions from the odd hamlet, outright guesswork, and dumb luck. If they were lucky, there'd be only one possible winding path up a stretch of mountain, or a bit of chalk-scratched rock under an overhang that pointed them further on.

Once they were far enough up the slopes of the Obstinea Range, however, there were lanterns placed at intervals just close enough that once one reached a given lantern, they could see the previous and the next light in the chain from that position. Perhaps a monk kept them lit, or perhaps the strange rose light within came from some uncanny dungeon magic. Whatever the truth, they were a welcome aid for anyone wishing to visit Obstine Abbey.

<><><><><>​

 

[Jackie Cat]

Any of the Wayfarers could've headed off towards the Abbey to find the Saint they called the Wandering Light. Anyone could be making this long and frankly exhausting trip. But Laura had bumped into Dave to ask him about Greenbough's orchard, and he'd asked if she was going, said 'maybe you could interview a fucking god', and maybe she could. She was the only Wayfarer who wrote for the Gazette, at least so far. So here she was.

Why couldn't she have turned up as a bird, though...?

At least Laura had found a walking stick that helped her feel like the trek was easier. And the dry breeze certainly helped with the day's heat. Still, it'd be a long walk. It was too bad that caravans headed over the mountain were so rare, or they could've hitched a ride, maybe.

She looked over her shoulder at the rest of the party with her. She didn't think she really knew any of them, not yet. Would she know them all that much better by the time their mission was over...?

How did you make small talk, anyway? Nice weather for it, was the best she could think of. So dull. They were going to see a holy place, weren't they?

"Never been somewhere like this," she said to herself, quietly. "Never really been religious."

 

[Butterfree]

The trek was far too long, the heat was stifling, and Dave had the most unbearable animal urge to just leave his tongue hanging out and pant like a fucking dog. This goddamn place had better be worth it.

Given all that, once Laura piped up, the opportunity for conversation was very welcome. "Yeah, uh, I'd sure hope being religious isn't a requirement," he said. "I mean, where I come from it's hard not to have been to churches or temples or whatever regardless. I got dragged to church weekly as a kid, and even now I'd like to give it a wide berth but there's no avoiding it when it's the venue of every fucking funeral. At least these people sound like a relatively chill religion."

 

[RJr3:2]

“Not much for religion here either,” Aige piped up from behind them.

The Roggenrola was busy taking in the sights. The last time she had been out of town, she had had a lot to worry about and had not been able to enjoy the trip, so in a sense, she was making up for it. Just a little.

She looked at the Poochyena. “I feel like abbeys are... chill, by virtue of their creed I guess? Just that their generally unpretentious in their aims and methods, at least from what I’ve seen.”

 

[AdamArtDraws]

"Never been somewhere like this," she said to herself, quietly. "Never really been religious."

"Do the gods not roam the realms where you're from?" Felin asked, flicking an ear.

Felin's fur was puffed up and her leaf collar widened, drinking up the sunlight like water from a fountain.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Lyle stretched his limbs and cast a sideways glance over at Silver and Rodion off past his shoulder. So they were really doing this: about to set off on a long trek to Obstine Abbey, and then off to the villages beyond afterwards.

Well, he had been planning on it after Rodion mentioned he wanted to go there. He wasn't fully sure whether or not everyone else was on board or not, but he supposed that was a bridge to cross when they got there.

"Do the gods not roam the realms where you're from?" Felin asked, flicking an ear.

"Well, not where I'm from, since as far as 'mons know back where I live, just about every god that had been in our land in the past 70 years is now dead," he chimed in.

 

[Cresselia92]

Breathtaking. That was the term that best defined their trip, both physically and metaphorically. Silver tightened his grip on the shoulder bag he brought for the journey and silently marveled at the glow of the lanterns. Something about their gentle waving felt like home and reminded him of the few times he climbed the safe paths of Mt. Silver with his old man. Was that how a pilgrimage felt like?

Then, the others began talking about religions and deities. Huh. Okay. Not exactly his area of expertise, but that was still a good chance to learn about the others’ worlds. He glanced at Felin, then at Lyle, then at the path ahead.

“Hm, well, in my world, the deities are still alive and kicking, but far from social folks,” he said before exhaling deeply and blowing his tuft of red hair. “Everyone knows the importance of paying dues to them with prayers and stuff, and I have left some offerings by a shrine or two. Still, I gotta join the not-much-into-religion crew. The most ‘religious’ stuff I’ve ever done was to take part in some kinda ritual of purification to receive Ho-Oh’s blessing or whatever, but that’s it.”

 

[Virgil134]

Rodion briefly closed his eyes with a smile as he enjoyed the warm sun along with the mountain breeze. Even if it was still a lot drier than he'd liked, he welcomed the change of scenery from Frontier Town. He wished Hess could have been here though, who as an Aggron would have no doubt loved travelling across the mountains. Still, he was here with other friends now, and even some of the other Wayfarers he hadn't spoken to much before. Whether anyone aside from Lyle and Silver would actually stick around for the journey to Pearl Confluence remained to be seen, but even if they went back to Frontier Town after reaching the abbey, for now he still appreciated the benefit that traveling in a larger group provided.

The Buizel opened his eyes and went back to surveying their surroundings for other Pokémon or potential traps, as he'd done for most of their journey so far. After all, there was no way to know what sort of dangers they might encounter on the road...

"Well, not where I'm from, since as far as 'mons know back where I live, just about every god that had been in our land in the past 70 years is now dead," he chimed in.

Rodion blinked. "Huh, doesn't sound all that different from my world actually. Even if we got those 70 years beat by several centuries."

“Hm, well, in my world, the deities are still alive and kicking, but far from social folks,” he said before exhaling deeply and blowing his tuft of red hair. “Everyone knows the importance of paying dues to them with prayers and stuff, and I have left some offerings by a shrine or two. Still, I gotta join the not-much-into-religion crew. The most ‘religious’ stuff I’ve ever done was to take part in some kinda ritual of purification to receive Ho-Oh’s blessing or whatever, but that’s it.”

"Yeah, can't say I'm exactly the praying type here," he said, a small smirk forming on his face. "Even if I can't help but wonder what sort of god would be called 'ho ho'."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Even on another world, as a Meowth, with someone directly addressing her, it was hard to get a word in...

"I, uh, don't know if my world has gods, really. Legendary pokémon, sure – but there's no real reason to believe that they're, like, divine. They're just rare and powerful pokémon. Some human cultures revere them, of course, and I think some pokémon cultures do too..."

She shook her head. "Where I'm from, religion isn't a big deal in most people's lives. Most religions aren't about legendary pokémon, they're about an unseen creator deity, or pantheon of deities. But my country's been pretty secular for a long time now, and it's been centuries since religion dominated politics or anything, basically anywhere."

Organised faith still left a hell of a mark on culture, though. Vernacular phrases, grand old buildings, holidays...

Laura looked up at the peaks above them, and wondered if the monastery had been built there for the same reasons Europa cathedrals were built taller than any other historical buildings. God was up higher than one could reach – and holy places hard to reach for common people...

She let out a grunt of effort as she pressed on.

"I've read a little about the Abbey," she continued. "They don't proselytise, or get together at the crack of dawn for mass prayer, or preach dogma. I think it's just... a community for a certain kind of person. There wasn't anything in there about 'conversion', or even worship."

All the same, they still revered Gods and Saints.

 

[RJr3:2]

“It’s a matter of perspective then,” Aige mused. “Spirituality can be as much of a companion to religion as it can be mutually exclusive.”

She glanced at Lyle, thinking about his words. “I know it depends on the definition, but can a god really be a god if they’re dead? Not to me at least, but it’s not my place to judge.”

“A community, huh...” The Roggenrola seemed conflicted by the Meowth’s words. “I hope their gods are friendly.”

 

[Butterfree]

Thank God, only one of them seemed like a bona fide believer, and Felin at least seemed to believe in the 'they're literally just easily verifiable people that anyone can see and talk to' sense. This'd have quickly turned intolerable if someone had chosen to be proselytizing the whole way.

"Yeah, I read something similar. Just a bunch of quiet monks doing their thing who'll barely even tell you what they believe. Best kind of fucking religion, if you ask me." He glanced around at the others who'd chimed in. "Anyway, my world doesn't have legendary Pokémon, just obviously made-up myths and urban legends, so it's kind of a trip being here and discovering apparently they're real in every other universe."

He turned back to Laura. "Other than that your universe doesn't sound too unlike mine, though. My country's just full of conservative evangelicals that politicians bend over backwards to please despite the nominal separation of church and state."

 

[AdamArtDraws]

Felin chuckled in amusement from the conversation. She hopped over a rock on the path and purred faintly.

"It truly is so interesting learning how all these different worlds works." She glanced back at the others with a grin. "What do you find more amusing? The things that set them apart or all the ways they are similar?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura chuckled anxiously to herself. Amusing? Not really. For her, the whole question of multiverses made her head spin with questions about determinism, whether the multiverse was truly infinite, whether travel between it was an inevitable technology, whether bad actors could invade other worlds without restriction...

And that other topic, about dead gods... Hadn't some of the Wayfarers found a memorial shrine to a dead Zapdos...? If this world had gods, but they were mortal, then what did that mean for its future...?

"Your country sounds like mid-twentieth century Unova," she snarked, replying flippantly to Dave to distract herself. "My sympathies."

 

[Sinderella]

Odette wasn’t quite sure why she felt a trip to a fucking Abbey was up in her wheelhouse. An Abbey was a holy place right? Like Arcean churches where she was from? And every time she walked into an Arcean church, she’d end up losing her lunch somewhere. Who’s to fucking say this trek wouldn’t end with the same fate? And yet, here she was. Stomping her way through the desert with a group of ‘mon she majorly did not know, going to a holy fucking Abbey in search for shit about Radiance. It was something to further her hunt for information while she waited to hear back from the Coven, but gods, was this just going to end up like the Pyrrin meeting? With her a shaking mess because she stuck her nose into something she knew she probably couldn’t handle?

But, this world was different. This body was different. For all she knew, it was going to be fine and she was internally bitching about nothing. She’d been silent long enough, the others were probably going to think she was plotting a murder if she didn’t engage in the smalltalk at some point. And of fucking course, they were talking about religion and gods. Wouldn’t this be the perfect time to announce “Hey! I’m actually possessed by an eldritch demon god and holy buildings make me sick as fuck!”

“Churches and I never really mixed well,” she said. “My mum is a Pokemon Professor who specializes in the occult sciences, so she, nor I, never focused on one specific religion…rather the whole bunch of them for the sake of her studies,” she explained. “But uh…I could never sit through an Arcean service. Boring.”

 

[AdamArtDraws]

"What's an Arcean service?" Felin asked, tilting her head sideward at the Mawile. "I'm not familiar with the term."

 

[RJr3:2]

"The name of a god, or at least a creed," Aige said, replying to Felin. "-at least based on what we're talking about!"

"I suppose by service, it's kind of like a lecture or a gathering." The Roggenrola laughed. "Actually, I just had a thought, since some gods are less present in some worlds, it's kind of like a campfire tale. You know, tales and legends?"

She was silent for a moment.

"I don't mean to equate it accordingly, that was offensive of me," she said sheepishly. "But, I am curious too what the term 'Arcean' means..."

 

[Sinderella]

“Oh,” she said, turning toward Felin. “In my world a lot of people worship this god named Arceus. So a lot of churches and holy sites were based around him. They’d hold ‘services’ for the sake of worship. Basically giving those in my world a chance to show their spiritual devotion, or something.” She pressed her lips together and rolled her eyes. “It’s uh…” she clicked her tongue, “it’s something.”

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

“Oh,” she said, turning toward Felin. “In my world a lot of people worship this god named Arceus. So a lot of churches and holy sites were based around him. They’d hold ‘services’ for the sake of worship. Basically giving those in my world a chance to show their spiritual devotion, or something.” She pressed her lips together and rolled her eyes. “It’s uh…” she clicked her tongue, “it’s something.”

"Wait, but what is Arceus a god of?" Lyle asked. "I've heard of a decent number of gods in the past, but the name doesn't ring a bell at all for me."

 

[Sinderella]

Well, damn, shit, Odette thought as she flexed the corners of her lips. If she'd have known she was going to get interrogated about this, she'd have kept her fucking mouth shut.

"Well, simply put, I think he's the god of all self-righteous pricks and dickheads. But more people seem convinced he's just the god of the universe. That's neither here nor there."

 

[Cresselia92]

So, now Arceus was the hot topic? Hm, such an intriguing shift in conversation. Silver relaxed slightly, and his internal guard lowered a bit. It sure comforted him that some things were similar across multiple worlds, no matter how utterly different they might be, and to know that other people shared similar views to his own.

“Oh, yeah, there are legends about Arceus where I come from, too,” said Silver, joining the conversation. “It’s said that they are an amalgamation of all forces of nature and the architect who wrote the laws of time, space and gravity. In some cultures and continents, they’re also known as the Original One.

“However, nobody has ever seen their true appearance. In recorded history, the most famous apparition happened in a region called Ransei, where their avatar ‘descended from the heavens’ or whatever, and stopped a war that raged for years.” He chuckled softly and crossed his arms, amused by a sudden thought. “Though, if they’re so almighty, I wonder why they chose an avatar that resembles some creature stuck in a golden fence!”