The Ascension

Further divinity

Night reigned in the northern forest longer than anyone but perhaps the locals were used to- but there were no locals here. The forest was nameless, right on the border of Renen and Aela, and often the only sound heard for days would be the cracks and shutters from Laila and Silan- Here, in a country that stood with no national deity, they were both allowed. Here they could fight.

The exact science of borders is simple: there are none. They are man made and rarely have physical markers. But Laila and Silan obeyed them regardless, as they always had- As much as the humans held them in respect, they were due to do the same in return. It was an ancient law, likely set by Ikina.

It was created to allow respite.

Laila fell to a form more like a human when she left Senya behind, already exhausted from her simple venture of being seen. Invisibility was her natural state, but there was still a sound that radiated off her, a sort of dull ringing in the ears and a soft pulse of energy.

It was this static that caused Aster to turn her head. She had awoken to find herself alone, and wandering from camp had yet to prove that theory false. The wind was howling, but Aster felt warm- it was almost like she was overheating, and she took off her coat and folded it on the crook of her arm.

She walked without intention, at first seeking Wren and Senya but then perhaps lost. She wasn't scared though. It was irrational to fear the dark.

And she couldn't be lost, let alone harmed, with Ikina watching her like this. Literally, at that, as she slowly came to sense she was being watched. Then, almost as she thought it, a light came to her.

Ikina. In Baased culture, Ikina was referred to as the sky mother to match the sea father. But in countries where Laila was the mother of all, Ikina was her husband- so, steadily, Aster adopted the pronoun 'they'.

They watched her with odd eyes, chemical yellow and wide open. Something was bird-like about them, beyond the obvious trait of being able to summon feathers- and when they swooped down to walk on her level, there was a halo of light trailing them. The Ikieen, their followers, were said to fly the world on wings of stardust. They must have carried the same majesty.

"Can you tell me where Wren and Senya went?" Aster asked, the nerves in her voice not breaking her tone but keeping it quiet.

"There's no need." They cracked their neck, never blinking. "You'll learn everything petty before the end of this."

"Are you psychic then?"

They did not need to frown for the feeling of resentment to be clear. "Even I have no domain in time. It's a line that's existed before I could have, and it's not my place to know of those older than me."

"...How old are you?"

"It'd be meaningless to tell you, wouldn't it? Human minds aren't meant for large numbers. The only way to present it would be to break it up into sections, a ten times a ten times another... but that string would soon lose meaning."

"An estimate?"

"It'd be useless."

"I don't have anything else to talk about then, if it's not about you, or Wren, or Senya."

Slyly, Ikina gave their equivalent of a grin: a slight parting of the lips and a concentrated move of the eyebrows. "You never asked about the boys. Just where they are. I could tell you many things they wouldn't discuss with you. I could tell you many things you wouldn't talk about either."

"Like what?" Aster said, intrigued and without a clear mind.

"You failed to specify the bounds of your inquiry. I will assume all." Ikina was blank in the expression of their voice, but more and more their face seemed excited. "More than Senya's chest has been burned. Wren's family is always fighting with each other- him included. And you've been lying to yourself for a very long time about your memories."