Author: Silver Star, Posted: Mon Jan 2, 2017 5:42 PM, Post Subject: Mortals in a Goddess's Fight [P][Event]

Ernest smiled at Iva trying to get more sweets. The girl was adorable - her and her little bear. She watched Iva eating Winston's cake, and said, "Hey, Iva. Isn't that Winston's sweet?" 

Taking a scone, she considered Angela's answer to her question. Every time she asked a question, Angela's answers seemed to just bring on more questions. "For the sake of everyone involved, I would surely hope Dalanesca isn't able to take away your power. If she can… well, we're kind of screwed."

She considered the goddess's offer. She had originally intended to just stay long enough to get answers to her questions, and visit Angela a bit - to be honest, she had missed Angela's company. But now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure if she wanted to leave anymore. It didn't seem right to just leave, after all that she had found out.

"If you'll have me, " she said, "I think I'll stay a while. I don't know if I'll be much help, though. I don't really have much of a talent. If all else fails, I can help Sir Winston storm Dalanesca's temple. It's probably pretty hard to storm someplace with just one person. And, anyway, if Dalanesca gets in here, we won't be in any worse of a position than the rest of the world."

Author: Angela Rose, Posted: Mon Jan 2, 2017 5:12 PM, Post Subject: Mortals in a Goddess's Fight [P][Event]

Angela found time to have scones and other sweets brought in. She looked at the deflated treats and sighed. “Dalanesca shaking the whole realm is making baking cakes and other sweets hard.” She whirled her finger again and the cakes and sweets began to inflate to what they were supposed to look like. “Alright, there we are. Have as much as you like.” She told Ernest. When Iva went to reach for multiple things Angela slapped her hand.

“But you just said–” Iva whined.

“I told Ernest she could have whatever she wanted. You will run laps and laps around the temple and not sleep tonight if I let you eat everything here. You can have two sweets right now and maybe two later.” 

“Can Winston have one sweet?” Iva asked innocently and Angela nodded as she helped get their cake slices. 

Thinking about Ernest’s questions she nodded. “It wouldn’t be the first time. Before you were born there was a war called the Godslayer War. Someone created an all-powerful weapon that killed many gods. I lost some of my best friends during that time. That was before the Triune were a thing. There weren’t always such individuals to lead the conclave. Under extreme circumstances, Gods can die. If we fall during our death, we can die. The Godslayer was a unique and powerful weapon that we destroyed into pieces and took the magic away from. However, Gods killing each other is not unheard of either. There was a time when I knew a girl who ate her mother’s power.”

She gave a sad smile to Ernest. “You know you are more than welcome to stay here or do whatever you want here Ernest. You have been a very good helper the last time we met. I could always use someone around here with that kind of talent. You could learn from the people in the temple as well.”

Author: Silver Star, Posted: Mon Jan 2, 2017 4:55 PM, Post Subject: Mortals in a Goddess's Fight [P][Event]

A mental image of Iva and Winston marching down to the Underworld to give Dalanesca a hug flashed through Ernest's mind, and she almost laughed. All she said out loud, though, was, "Hi, Iva. And Sir Winston." She winked at Angela. 

It was an odd feeling, she discovered, to have the world shaking around you while the table and your chair stayed perfectly still. Especially when she thought about the causes of this. She was sitting having tea with a goddess, and the goddess's two children, while the entire realm shook around them because another goddess was trying to destroy them. Although, technically, she thought, Dalanesca was only really trying to kill Angela. The rest of them just happened to be in the way. At least, she hoped that was the case. She didn't need a goddess for an enemy.

Ernest wanted to make small talk, but she couldn't think of anything to say. She had never spent much time just chatting with people before. Finally, she just decided to ask a question that was really bugging her. "Can gods and goddesses die, Angela? I thought you were immortal, but you… mentioned that they could kill each other." She tried to tread around the fact that Angela and said Dalanesca was trying to kill her. Iva didn't really need to hear about that. The girl obviously loved her "Auntie Dal."

Author: Angela Rose, Posted: Mon Jan 2, 2017 2:35 PM, Post Subject: Mortals in a Goddess's Fight [P][Event]

Ernest was a good person and Angela gave her a smile. “If everyone thought like you… there would be no wars. That is a very good mindset to have. Take pride in it and keep it safe. Not enough people think like that to make the world a better place.” She moved Rohan higher up on her hip. His dark hair was so much different from her fire bright hair. His eyes were the greenest like her though and it reminded her of the fields back home. “I just hope she snaps out of it soon.”

Angela thought about it and smiled. “Would you like to know something? Even right now… Dalanesca is one of my best friends. She is the godmother of my son. All of us feel this way, Ernest. When a baby dies, or a loved dies, when things seem too down to ever come back up… when we hit rock bottom whether we are immortal or not… We always blame the gods. That is a very mortal thing to do. It’s perfectly fine to do.” Her gaze was soft on Ernest as she bounced Rohan. “It’s alright for her to do. However, she has the power to really kill me right now. Which is why I am on the defensive even though I understand her.”

The girl was smart and Angela knew that. “That’s right. Just like how when kingdoms wage war they almost never consider the cost of their own people. It happens all the time. When one person is above another this can happen.” Thinking about her own anger she frowned a bit. “If she were to kill my child, I would kill her. That is a sin I have done before but it’s more so because it’s ingrained in me to protect my own. If Rohan were hurt I think I would honestly lose all control of myself.”

Thinking on Dal once more Angela began to set up a table and smiled at Ernest. “I think.. that time heals wounds better than we understand at least a little bit. She will come to forgive me on her own time and when she is done she will realize how much she has messed up. Ernest, you cannot hold a grudge against Dalanesca. I don’t and she is trying to kill me. I think that Moliira, our third Triune, will attempt to talk to her… but unless Dalanesca wants to hear it she won’t believe or understand it. That is the role we’ve been given. It is now a waiting game.”

She began to pour tea and whirled her finger so the table and tea were all stationary in the onslaught up attacks. “Here have some. It will help the nerves with this whole situation.” A little red haired girl came in and looked at Ernest before pulling at her mother’s long dress.  

“Mama is Auntie Dal going to be okay? Can’t we give her a hug and make it all better?” The child’s huge brown eyes looked up at her mama as she tried to figure it out. “Auntie Dal shouldn’t be sad Mama.”

Angela rubbed the girl’s head of red curls and smiled. “I’m sure if Auntie Dal was in a hugging mood we could just do that but she’s not. We’ll have to let her decide when we can give her hugs. Come on let’s have some tea… Do you have Winston with you?” The girl shook her head and ran away only to come back with a teddy bear as big as she was. “Ernest this is my daughter Iva. Can you say hi?”

Iva looked at her and smirked before getting up in a chair at the table. “Hi, this is Sir Winston the bestest bear ever.” Iva was quick to seat Winston in the chair besides her. “He isn’t afraid of Auntie Dal and is ready to storm her temple at a moment’s notice! I’ve told him that’s a suicide mission though.”

Angela chuckled and sat down at the table. “Oh what a very brave bear Winston has become.”

“That’s SIR Winston Mama. Where are your manners? You can’t just drop someone’s very important title like that.” Iva had a sugar spoon in her hand and was waving it at her mother now.

“Oh well… forgive me Sir Winston.” Angela was laughing and gave Ernest a wink. “Come on, lavender tea is good for the soul.”

Author: Silver Star, Posted: Mon Jan 2, 2017 2:12 PM, Post Subject: Mortals in a Goddess's Fight [P][Event]

"Angela," said Ernest. "listen. This is not your fault. This is Dalanesca's fault. You did nothing wrong. As you say, you had good reasons to be away. I do not doubt that. You had no way to know this would happen while you were gone. Dalanesca's response is not your responsibility. It is hers. You are doing the best you can, and that is all any of us can do, goddess or not." She sympathized with Angela. Many times, she had been forced to choose between events that left her feeling guilt over what she had done. "I have done worse than you, Angela. I have chosen wrong to save myself. You did not do that. You chose what you thought was best, and chance made it run this way. Even you can't see the future."

The light from outside flickered, and the ground shook again. For the first time, Ernest truly realized what she was seeing - she was watching one goddess try to kill another. There seemed something fundamentally wrong with that. "I can see it, kind of, how Dalanesca is fighting herself," she said. "There seems something wrong about goddesses trying to kill each other. It just… doesn't work. It's like, well, Death trying to eliminate Life. You can't have them apart from each other. They don't work. You're right that there's nothing wrong about Death and, well Destruction. Everything needs to end eventually. You just can't try to make them Master over Life."

She stared around her, at the garden that was somehow a war zone, without being destroyed. Goddesses' fights were different. "I suppose mortals are really just pawns in goddesses' fights." She paused. "No, not pawns. More like… background. Kind of like how we mortals never consider what we're doing to the earth. We have other things to worry about. As do you. You're right, about staying collected. I think, if you were to match her anger with your own… part of me thinks the world would explode."

Ernest started pacing, but another shake in the earth brought her back to one spot, where she could lean on the tree so as to not fall over. "Will she listen to anyone, I wonder?" she mused. "Dalanesca, I mean. You and I know this can't stay like this forever. Do you think… I don't know, someone, another goddess or something would be able to talk to her? Or are we all just stuck like this?" She sighed in frustration. She hated being helpless. "The world can't keep going like this. I would go and talk to her if I knew I could change anything."

Author: Angela Rose, Posted: Mon Jan 2, 2017 1:06 PM, Post Subject: Mortals in a Goddess's Fight [P][Event]

Angela frowned at Ernest and bounced Rohan. “Because Ernest I was the one who took care of her during her pregnancy. Above all else, I would have known if something was wrong but I wasn’t there. I neglected her because I was busy. That is why she is angry with me. I assure you I had good reasons to be away because I thought she and Katja would be fine. Katja was not fine. That is my fault.” But someone was threatening her own children and Angela couldn’t just not take care of that problem. Dalanesca had been pulled into Cyprus’s war path and now an innocent life had been lost because of her.

“Our life events shape how our domain spheres roll. It is true that our names come from common mortals. I didn’t like The Master Artisan of Life at first but that was the name that mortals gave me. The Mother was what they called me and still call me now. Keeper of the Cornucopia came from the farmers at Harvest. We do not get our names but we barely have control over the domains that we rise up to. When I first ascended I had killed my child. In my grief, my domain spheres became destruction and decay. I was not evil and that is something that people have a hard time understanding when it comes to spheres. They don’t care how you are personally but your actions and your feelings control what you have. It was only after overcoming my grief that I became Fertility and Earth. Now I am Life and Earth. This is not only Dalanesca’s fight with me but a fight against herself. I feel it on the tips of the air wisps in the conclave. Dalanesca has taken Darkness and Death for herself because most likely that’s what she has been driven to. It is up to her how to define those spheres.”

Thinking about her question she let a morbid chuckle came out. “When Gods fight it's the mortals who pay the price. It’s not funny but that’s the sad truth. Normally it is mortals who go up in arms and fight against other armies in the names of their gods. That is the same thing as now just more direct. The world is suffering because she is suffering. I’m attempting to meet it in the middle with my own power but she is volatile. She is making mistakes which means it's easier for me to counter without a lot of effort going in. Being hasty and angry only leads to mistakes. Cool, cold, and collected is how a war should be fought if one wishes to win.” 

Angela knew it sounded harsh but she sighed. “War is never alright, but it is needed sometimes. This isn’t one of those times but Dalanesca needs to realize she is wrong. If she would just talk to me without throwing me out of her temple I could tell her what happened. Right now she would rather kill me than hear me out.”

Author: Silver Star, Posted: Mon Jan 2, 2017 12:50 PM, Post Subject: Mortals in a Goddess's Fight [P][Event]

Ernest smiled at Rohan. He was cute. And, so far, he seemed to be the most normal part of her day. It was not a normal day. And Angela's answers to her questions only left her with more questions. She started with one she thought she might be able to comprehend the answer to.
"Why would she blame you, Angela? People die. Even children. Surely she can see that. Death and life are kind of a balance, after all. And isn't she the goddess of balance? Or has that gotten messed up, too?" She paused, realizing she was rambling. Calm, she reminded herself. She always seemed to forget that. A memory flickered back into her head. "Above all else, I must remain calm. If I don't, the world will shake and I will have to answer for my sins." She had always thought Angela meant that figuratively. 
The ground shook again, and Ernest balanced herself against a tree. Apparently not. 
"Why would she try to kill people if she's mad at you?" The question came before she could stop it. "I mean, not trying to be rude, but it seems very illogical. Unless she just wants to make the world suffer." It occurred to Ernest that that might actually be the reason.
The room seemed to lurch suddenly to one side, and Ernest fell over this time. Was Dalanesca getting stronger? And, if so, how long could this last? Ernest had never doubted Angela, but she was afraid of what might happen if Dalanesca got out of control.

Author: Angela Rose, Posted: Mon Jan 2, 2017 11:54 AM, Post Subject: Mortals in a Goddess's Fight [P][Event]

Angela was attempting to have time with Rohan. He was getting bigger, at least he was until the situation with Dalanesca happened. He was happily bouncing in her arms as he wanted to walk and crawl and do other baby things that his mother absolutely didn’t want right now. She snuggled him into her chest and he began to unleash a rattling of yells and baby gibberish. Angela laughed a bit. Ro knew but two words at the moment. His call for his dada and his call for his mama. Right now he was babbling on and on about Drae. Angela’s facial features were soft as Ernest came into the room.

She nestled the little one onto her hip and stood up. “You don’t have to kneel here.” She was gentle as she helped Ernest stand back up. A smile of sadness was spread across her face. “Dalanesca and I are having a little disagreement about how she should handle the loss of her baby.” That was a lie and the look on Angela’s face said so too. “Actually, she is blaming me for her child being stillborn. That shaking is her attacking the realm or attempting to.” Angela waved her hand as another shake started. The energy around the room lit up with a thousand stars as Angela shot the blast right back at the goddess.

“The world my dear girl. Is not going to fall apart, not while I’m here. It might get bruised or slightly shaped but I’m not going to let Dalanesca destroy it.” She smiled. “Death and Life, the soul-stream that births and takes is at a stand still. It’s the only way I could get her to stop taking souls that weren’t yet ready to go. No one can die, age, or suffer right now. It’s absolutely exhausting.” The realm shook again and she looked up and sighed. “She is going to ruin the delicate herb garden I have.” She was trying to make light of it. Rohan started to babble towards Ernest. “Oh yes, this is my son Rohan. It seems he likes you.”

Author: Silver Star, Posted: Mon Jan 2, 2017 11:34 AM, Post Subject: Mortals in a Goddess's Fight [P][Event]

Ernest had made it, at last, to Angela's hall. The Mother's hall, she chided herself. She knew she should think of the goddess with the proper respect, but she couldn't help herself. The Mother would always be Angela in her head. 
She began her walk down the corridor. From the doorway, it had seemed ordinary, but as she walked, she could see that each door was unique. One or two of the doors were open, and she glanced into them as she passed. Every room was different, and none were what you'd expect in a mansion. She decided to stop looking. She'd had enough mind bending for one day.
She walked to the doors at the end of the hallway, and reached out to push them open. She paused. Was she allowed to just… walk in like this? It seemed wrong. Then again, most of the world seemed wrong at the moment. That was why she was here. To figure out what was wrong in the world, and help it if she could. 
She reached out again and pushed the doors open. The world seemed to light up. The whole room was covered in colours, the bright greens of herbs, and the thousand hues of the flowers. Ernest stood in awe for a second.
The world shook. Or at least that was what it felt like. Ernest fell to her knees. What was that? It occurred to her that that might be Angela's way of telling her she was supposed to kneel, but she didn't think so. The world shook again, and Ernest was sure that the giant tree in the mansion was going to fall over.
"Angela," she started, still on her knees. "Lady Angela. What is happening?" She paused for a second. "The world is falling apart, Lady."