THE ARCHAIC SKY

CHAPTER: THE CANDIDATE'S ENDEAVOUR

Sitara

Some say she was a devil, a commander of the purple-infested daemons, the vengeful spirits, and the corrupted souls of the wrongly killed. Others say she's a harbinger of divinity. The true queen of gods who deserves to sit on the throne of Empyrea to rule over the archons of mortal lands. Though these were but rumors, no one truly knows the truth other than her descendants, seeing as she's dead.

Scarlet. Maroon. Garnet. Red. The color of blood. Mortal blood at least. No, human blood. she still could see the small drips of blood that appeared as she attacked her kidnappers. but it was no use. they had tied her in ropes with sigils burnt on them. so tight that if she so much as breathed against them they would tighten and scorch her skin. her screams could barely make it through the gag they placed on her. her feet barely grazed the ground as they hauled her away into the bleak night. that night she had masked her bond with frey. he wouldn't feel her, wouldn't know where she was, it was as if he were no longer her familiar.

she then was tossed to the ground, forced to walk on her own, her hands tugged by the rope for her to go faster. she should have cherished the ground, the warm soft soil of the overworld. because before she knew it, the feeling was entirely gone, her feet no longer on solid ground. leaving her to tumble into an endless crack on the earth.

The abyss. The nether. A spiraling void of arching corridors. Of large stone caverns with air so filled with glowing dust she couldn't see far ahead of her. Of large and intricate ruins that came from the civilization before the abyssal axis took over the land. A land underground away from the heavenly envoys and gods' gaze. A land of dark dying twisted irminsul trees where its denizens were monsters, not that of goblins nor vampires, but twisted parasites and miasmas that infested the land of dunkelheit.

Down there not even lightning could give enough light to let her see everything the abyss has to over. Not even fires she lit up brought enough warmth in the cold desolate land. The only source of light and heat was a moon-like gaze from the world above. Silvery rays of light only goaded about how much more light there could be.

she wasn't the only one tossed into the world's largest landfill. after haru disappeared, she became more wary. no one was left to protect her but herself. along with her, a single weapon. A blade of steel strong enough to match the Losturane's might, a weapon that has enough strength to pierce and kill a daemon without destroying its core.

daemons come in all shapes and sizes. from rifts, hounds could appear and corrode the world around. chanters, apostles and lectors of the abyssal axis would wander with sharp glowing eyes. bathysmal beings would scour the empty lands for prey. they were all different, attacked different, but in the end they're all daemons corrupted by the abyss's will. and with that, they all have daemonic cores.

she wasn't sure exactly what they did. but they were priceless to the seikatsu as far as she was concerned and they were priceless to the heralds Polyhymnio, Viterato and the infamous Faturaina. it wasn't the only reason she held on to so much of them. they were odd to the touch, a kind of warm that didn't heat her up. but it helped her nonetheless, allowing her to wander the lands with nearly no sustenance of any kind.

in the nethers of this grotto, every light no matter how bright wasn't enough to shine like the sun, merely giving a glow. trees had branches that held heart and tear-shaped leaves twist around their trunk. plants and vegetation were odd and glow in the dark day, whereas sleep in the white night. fungi, mushroom, corals, bushes on the dirt between cracked tiles, small branches of saplings grew beside cold moonstone, and vines on moss that thrive off the side of stone walls and wherever water from fountains had splashed. the ecosystem of this realm under her world thrived and lived, supporting one another within it. but it can't support her.