"Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god–" The weather was worse than usual in Railoch, heightening her already frayed nerves. Rifts were opening up in too many places at once and she didn't know how to close them. She had been tracking the trend of appearances, and her panic went into full speed when a newly discovered one was found in the storm valley. Unlike other deities, her temple was accessible in the physical realm and she didn't want a repeat of the Kougetsu incident on an uncontrolled scale. Maybe it was the anxiety, but just looking at the tear in the fabric of space and time made her sick. She had set up more lightning towers for the people searching for Tempestas Silversword, as more deaths were helping no one. "Rift is approximately fifty meters across and twenty meters high, somewhat oblong shaped. No discernible change in appearance as of ten minutes. Further observation will continue through remote access." She muttered into some sort of runed box. She had to get out of here before she started to hurl. 

"It's going to be ok…" She said to herself. "…It's going to be ok–no it's not going to be ok, it's not ok." She briefly lost contact with Natsumi a while back and what she heard before the communication cut was less than comforting. This was why she was so paranoid about the rifts; she was afraid that something was on its way. She hoped it was just her rampant imagination, but that same rampant imagination told her otherwise. Angela almost got killed. She couldn't take any chances. Summoning a Bakulaw spider drone, she set it to monitor the rift as she prepared to leave for drier weather.

This wasn't the Feeorin Forest. The powerful winds, lightning that battered the landscape, and lack of trees were evidence of that fact. What eluded Attie was how she became so lost that she ended up in a storm land. Plopping down underneath one of the lightning towers, she snatched her map out from her bag to search for answers. Attie was a strange sight to say the least. Her black hair was messy and her clothes consisted of a pair of trousers, a simple tunic, and sandals. A pair of glasses rested on her face while a satchel was strapped around her shoulder. A sword dangled from her belt yet on closer inspection it was clear that all of those weapons had never been used. Two pieces of clothe were jammed into her ears in an attempt to block out the thunder. To top it all off, she did not appear to be bothered by the storm. She gripped her map tightly to prevent the wind carrying it off but drops of water quickly drenched the map. As the ink lines blurred, Attie realized that she would never find her way out of this place without some sort of help. Springing to her feet, she began to look around for any people. 

Attie managed to spot a stranger in the distance and she began to wave to the stranger, completely forgetting about the fact that some people liked to murder others or to steal their stuff. Trudging through the rain, she managed to get closer to the stranger. Despite her clothes being soaked through and the rain hitting her every which way, she enjoyed the storm and its…charms. If the rain didn't damage parchment, she would have been documenting everything about the storm. She waved to the stranger and paused for a moment to take a breath as it was difficult to fight against the winds. 

"Hi!" She greeted then took a pause, "….Is there anything I can do to help you?" 

The mannerisms of the stranger indicated something was wrong. 

Grief had swallowed the world all at once like a tidal wave swallowing a city. 

Unfamiliar with this world Artiya'il was unsure whether the Rifts were meant to be there or not - all she knew was that the entire world was grieving and that the plant life was dying; which meant that she had her work cut out for her. 

The Angel of Grief had felt a swell in her power all at once as the tidal wave of grief washed across Revaliir - she had felt the pull of it, slow at first and concentrated in one spot… but it had exploded outwards from that place and hit her hard, knocking the breath from her lungs and causing the Angel to stumble where she had been standing at the time. Something had happened; something quite monumental in fact - only once before had Artiya'il felt grief on this scale… when the Host had been cast from the Heavens to Revaliir… and even then she was not entirely sure she could compare it to that either, this was the entire world dying and the entire world mourning it… 

Artiya'il had begun her work; removing the grief from those who came into contact with her - after all that was her purpose; her given task and the reason for her very existence, to find those consumed by grief and to remove it so that only she had to suffer it. It had tainted her over time; her pure white wings and hair had slowly begun to change to a deep blood red though even now she was not fully consumed by it - she still held onto some of her purity, leaving only the ends of her feathers and her hair to be tainted by the colour. Even now she could feel one being utterly dominated by their anxiety and grief and she found herself drawn to them. 

The place itself held no meaning for the Angel - she, like her mother, would soon lose her sight and all that would guide her would be her Purpose - Arti had never been afraid of this, she had known this about her life from the very beginning and had been prepared for it. Raegul had told her many times that you did not need your eyes to see the true nature of those around you and since her mother was the Angel of Judgement she had come to believe in this beyond all else; she and Raegul were meant to remain neutral, to judge and remove grief without bias for all walks of life deserved to be judged or to have grief removed from them so that they might continue on their path - eyesight only got in the way of such things. The Archangel's eyes fixed upon the woman who was like a beacon to her - it was hard not to see the wavering, anguish stricken order of the woman and Arti could see her true nature also… the woman was a Goddess. 

As another woman approached the Goddess Artiya'il made her way towards the pair also, the winds buffeting at her though the Angel did not seem to take much notice of them. Looking directly at Shiloh she held out a hand to the woman. "You called and I came, take my hand and I shall take the pain away from you. You will not have to suffer the ache of it any longer." She said with a soft smile. 

There was a knee-jerk reaction as Shiloh twitched, then turned to see a girl standing out here in the sopping rain. Breathing a sigh of relief, she was glad it was just a human. She had been on edge since that mess with Dalanesca, and with her still at large being paranoid was better than being the next statistic. This kid didn't look like she was here for harvesting Silversword, so lord knows why she was here. "If you see a hole in the middle of thin air, do not go near it–turn around, walk away, don't look at it, don't turn around if you hear somebody call you from that direction, and if you start hearing voices while nobody is there that is when you start running! Oh and stay near the lightning towers…that'll make my job a whole lot easier." She rubbed her face with both hands smearing rain all over. "I need to get out of here." The last bit was just her repeating to herself for sanity's sake than simply stating the obvious. Until the plants stopped dying, none of the Conclave could rest easy.

The deity of storms was a shaky, agitated mess. Dark circles around her eyes showed her insomnia had worsened and her eyes were starting to become bloodshot. Even if she wanted to rest, she couldn't. The ever-present fear dangled above her from a hair's breadth. She even didn't have the luxury of allowing herself to acknowledge her own psychological state, forcibly suppressing everything for the sake of completing her goals. If it weren't for her current divinity, she would have dropped dead from exhaustion. By now Shiloh was starting to fear she was experiencing hallucinations, so the appearance of what looked to be an angel in this desolate downpour flared warning bells. Half thinking she was finally succumbing to delirium, her hand flinched visibly when the angel extended a hand. "…No, I can't–not now. Later I promise, later. I can't give this up right now, not when I have so much to do." It was something only these two would understand, the rest would sound like a lunatic's ramblings to an outsider. As if to plead her case, she explained. "I need this; it keeps me going. I can't afford to stop, I can't afford to rest. Death has turned its teeth on Life, and they need me to keep things together. It's my job. I have to do it."

I can't rest, she needs me. They need me to stay alive and do what I need to do. Nobody else can do this for me, even if they wanted to. It's not their fault; they're just different people. Deities are supposed to protect the world. He picked me because he believed I would work in the world's best interest. There are thousands of people depending on me, so I can't stop now.

I can't stop now.

We can't stop now.

We have to keep going.

We must protect this world from what has possessed Dalanesca and will do whatever it takes to complete our objective.

No cost too great to bring about our goal, no cost too great to preserve their lives–for we are expendable. 

An unsteady light shone in her eyes as she was reaching her breaking point. A hollow vessel can only contain so much before the contents overflow. And once they ran over, there was no telling what would happen.

This stranger….did not look as though she was in healthy condition. Even Attie could see that and she was hardly a healer of any sort. She listened quietly as the stranger explained what to do with these apparent strange holes that float mid-air. Due to a lack of paying attention, Attie had been fortunate enough to have never seen or notice one of these holes. If she had passed one, she had probably been too wrapped up in her own thoughts to give them any mind.

Suddenly an angel appeared and extended a hand to the stranger. Having little knowledge of the gods or of the strangers, she assumed that the stranger was offering to take Shiloh to the underworld to relieve her "pain" as that is what Attie had been told that angels did. Angels were supposed to help the dying and the living. The way that Arti was speaking made it appear as though they were talking about dying which was something Attie did not approve of. 

"Yes! Nobody is going to be giving up anything." She said quickly and began to walk over to Shiloh, "No dying or giving up will be allowed."

Attie attempted to pull Shiloh's arm over her own shoulder and hold her by the waist. It was a type of one-person walk assist that she had learned back in the village. Preparing to help Shiloh and to walk all the way out of Railoch, she checked to make certain that there was nothing going to be left behind. Shiloh had mentioned her desire to leave this place and that is exactly what Attie was prepared to help her with. 

"Sweetie." Attie said to Shiloh, "We are going to get out of here like you wanted. And before you say anything, I am certain you are a strong and capable person but there are times when everybody needs help. So please, let me help you." 

Her eyes turned to the angel. 

"Would you mind taking the other side of her?" She asked politely, "It would be of great help. And then you wouldn't be left here alone!"

Despite the storm and the grim seeming situation, Attie held a warm smile upon her face. As though she knew that everything would be alright, that they would be able to get through all of this. They would be able to make their way through the storm, Attie could feel it in her bones. 

The Goddess looked exhausted, not that Arti could blame her; the world was dying and that had to take a toll on all of the Deities not just the Goddess of Life who was directly linked to the world in that way. ”It’s not giving up but I understand; it is what is fuelling you, am I right? The pain of it gives you strength where you would have none otherwise, I can respect that.” The Archangel replied with a nod of her head, casting a glance to the human who immediately jumped to the Goddess’ defense as though Artiya’il had come at the woman with a scythe. The woman rolled her eyes; it was a typically human reaction, jumping to conclusions just because an Angel was involved – Death was her Uncle’s domain not her own, she dealt with the aftermath…

”You are struggling just as Life and Death are; what you currently find strength in will consume you my Lady, I know you are aware of that, I know you can feel it just as much as I can.” She added, putting a hand on her heart in a show of genuine respect so that the Goddess did not misinterpret her words and intentions. ”However I shall stand down as you have asked and aid you in other ways for the moment, when you are on the edge of the cliff and feel you are on the verge of madness you need merely think my name and I shall come to you once more.” She informed Shlioh before her eyes flickered to the girl. ”And who mentioned dying?” She asked in a dry tone.


Taking hold of Shiloh’s elbow firmly but gently the Archangel offered a small smile – an expression that wasn’t often seen on Artiya’il’s usually straight face. ”What do you require of us?”

The words were just rolling off of her like water on a duck's feathers, going in one ear and out the other. She was so, so tired but also very afraid. Afraid to close her eyes. Afraid that if she blinked something would happen when she could have prevented it. Afraid that Dalanesca would show up and attack her next. She couldn't stop, she couldn't stay in one place. Like Angela, she wasn't supposed to be on the front lines. But she had to be, so she needed to stay sharp. All she was able to process was that the angel agreed to leave her be for a while and this stranger was trying to hold her up like she needed crutches. Maybe that was a good thing, since she realized she didn't remember the last time she felt her legs. "What do you require of us?" The angel asked her. Shiloh's answer was blunt: "To keep yourselves safe–because I cannot protect you." The gods of this world couldn't protect the people against Dalanesca's bloodbath, much less protect themselves.

As she hobbled in the rain, there was a ringing sound coming from her bag. Stopping, she fumbled with it until she pulled out the source, her Wayfinder's Widget. The slate-like device was emitting a tone and she hurriedly turned it on. At once a map of Railoch came into view showing various waypoints and landmarks. Tracing her finger over the widget's surface, she located a blinking red dot that was moving towards Gobethio. Sucking in a deep breath she enlarged the area of the map where the dot was in. More detailed features appeared and she saw the estimated distance between it and the city. "I need to go. The drones have detected something approaching the city of Gobethio. Whatever it is, I hope it's not what I'm expecting." Gobethio wasn't prepared to face an attack, not in the world's current condition. With shaky hands she opened a portal close to the area where the danger was detected, fingers crossed that they weren't walking out into its line of sight or right next to another of those rifts. 

Trying to free herself from the dark-haired girl's grip, she was heading for her portal. "I'll keep this open if you want to come through, but get in quick. I can only keep it stable for a minute or more." Cramps were forming in her stomach as she braced herself for the worst on the other end. Once she was through, Shiloh didn't see it at first. The rain and poor light made her mistake it for a part of the landscape. But then…it moved and made a terrible, earth-shattering sound. 

With Dalanesca's descent into madness, Luxuria Mortiferum was no longer in order. Without its deity to preside over the Circulos Inferos and Death's end of the Soulstream, souls of the dead were no longer being kept in check. That was what caused the creation of the mechanical, hulking behemoth now trudging its way towards Gobethio; an amalgam of broken ancient golems animated by a very powerful poltergeist. There could have been more than one of them in there, as moving such a massive thing wasn't easy. The spirits possessing the crawling monstrosity had some kind of deep-seated grudge against the living. The body of the behemoth was made of the twisted frames of golems to where you could see the heads, limbs, and torsos of the original constructs. An unearthly glow was emanating from the entire thing. The poltergeists must have been gradually assimilating more into the main mass. If this thing made it to the city, everything would be over. 

This girl was heavy, even with the angel carrying the other side but Attie refused to complain and instead kept trying to help Shiloh walk. Suddenly, Shiloh responded with the answer of keeping themselves safe because the lady couldn't protect them. Annoyance filled Attie's mind since this lady was a random stranger and she was acting as though they suddenly needed more protection than any other day. Certainly, there were different kind of dangers but on a normal day, anything could kill any of them. The only thing that seemed to change was instead of dying by a bandit or an arrow to the knee, she might die by a black floating thing that could swallow them whole. However, the situation could be different for the angel seeing as most angels had better protection and wings. 

Suddenly a ringing came from somewhere and confused Attie for a while until Shiloh took out the strange looking item. Still holding the lady and walking with her in the rain, Attie tried to focus on keeping Shiloh standing, although it seemed that she still had enough strength to stand on her own. Yet at the same time, she seemed beyond tired which made Attie wonder if there was some sort of potion that could give energy to a person. If only Attie had one of those, if they existed. Shiloh suddenly started talking about how drones detected something in some city called Gobethio. The girl appeared to be rather upset and fearful about it was clear that they couldn't stop her going there when she opened a portal. Attie stopped holding onto the girl as soon as the portal opened, glad when she let go that the girl was still standing. Turning her head to the angel, Attie gave the angel a shrug and a smile. 

"Well I suppose we have no choice." She said to the angel, "Come on, if we want to truly help her we gotta make sure she's safe." 

No matter how many times Shiloh talked about protecting others, it was clear that the one person who might need more protection than anybody else was her. Even if Shiloh was powerful, fear could conquer anybody. Determined not to allow fear or anything else to harm her new friends, including the angel, Attie hopped into the portal without a second thought. When she arrived on the other side, a horrific sight greeted her. A hulking giant mish-mash of spirits and broken golems trudged its way towards Gobethio. It held an unearthy glow and its body was twisted in a way that would make most feel sick after viewing it. Attie felt conflicted as a part of her was deeply fascinated by such a thing and another part of her was wanting to run far away from it. 

Biting down on her lip, she took out her bow and arrows from her bag and belt. Arrows wouldn't stop this thing but every machinery had a weakness, in fact everything had to have a weakness. Her head turned to the others as she opened her mouth to speak. 

"I can summon a water elemental, transform into almost any animal, and I can use a bow." She quickly explained her own skills, "So whats the battle plan?"

They would NOT be able to defeat this thing without a proper plan. They might have powerful individuals on their side, excluding herself of course, but that didn't mean that they would be able to defeat this thing with brute force. Especially if the thing was able to be put back together after they broke it. Not to mention they had one ally who was extremely tired and had already pushed herself way to far. 

Aboard Killian’s impossible ship, every alarm was ringing simultaneously – every light flickered and period a shower of sparks would fly from the controls. There was a clock chiming somewhere over the din, until that too was drowned out by the magical engines. They wheezed and spluttered as the airship burst through the void, like a tiny meteor. Its pearly white form was only eight feet fall and shaped like a teardrop, but it hurtled through the sky and crashed not far from the three women.

A set of doors opened and a ridiculous man popped out, he looked dishevelled and was wearing a long black coat that shimmered like the stars. “Not my best landing.” He said to himself. As he hopped down from the rubble of his crash the ships doors closed and locked themselves. “ Locked onto a massive power source somewhere around here.” The Novella half explained to the women – as he talked he took them in. “That must have been you Goddess. I’m Killian.” He offered her his hand and them all a wide toothy grin. “Sorry for nearly landing on you. What you three so far out of town in the rain anyway?”

The storm was getting incredibly loud – and close and not that stormy. Killian could hear cogs whirling – he could feel the sheer power – and it wasn’t from the goddess. It suddenly dawned on him why the three women weren’t really listening to him. Flamboyantly he spun on the spot and spotted the gigantic golem. The sheer audacity of it – Killian flashed it his most dangerous smile. Such magic, such intelligence.

He was going to enjoy smashing it.

“A plan! That’s what we need.” He stopped and started again a second later. “Or a lot of luck. Or a bit of luck and a plan.” He inhaled a breath of air. “I talk and think, did you notice?”

He pulled out his silver wand.

“Hit its legs with everything you have.” With that, Killian twisted on the spot and started to run towards the golem – his wand ignited as he sent several explosion spells towards the golem’s legs.

It didn’t seem very pleased.

"I do not fear Death my lady for he is my mother's twin; at least he was Death in our world. If it is time for my demise then nothing I can do will stop that;though I am fairly confident that today is not that day, I have too much work to do here for my time to end." She said softly with a small smile. She watched as the Goddess pulled out a device and began to speak again. Without a word she followed the woman through the gate - still conscious that she could physically feel the woman's grief and exhaustion positively emanating from her. 

It was dark as they moved through the gate and something was moving in the rain. From what she could see the thing was monstrous. "Close your eyes, all of you." She spoke softly as she thrust her right hand into the air and sent a ball of light straight upwards, the ball flashing within the rain and cascading small lights across the horizon to light their way. NOW they could see what was going on. Suddenly another joined them, rather unceremoniously, and Artiya'il raised an eyebrow at the man that popped out of the aircraft. The rain had barely been registered by Arti until Killian mentioned it. Without a thought she flicked out a feathered wing and angled it above Shiloh and Attie's head to shelter them as best she could - it would not keep them completely dry but would at least stop some of the rain while they formulated a plan. 

As Killian began to attack the legs Artiya'il nodded. "If we can separate the golems from one another then we will have smaller, more manageable issues to deal with at least. My lady have you enough strength to enter into combat? I know I asked to remove your grief but I can transfer you some energy in that same vein if it will help you to help us? I believe we will need all the help we can get." The Angel added as her hands began to glow; her magic literally to hand for whatever she required of it.