Oct 23, 2018 6:09 pm
Five years ago…
He wakes up to intense heat! Father Ezakien Tobyn, a human cleric of Desna, awakened in his bed, sweating, and realizes that the chapel is ablaze. Fire has reached his chambers, burning the curtains and draperies in the room.
"Nualia! Nualia, where are you?!? We must get out of here!!!"
He rushes out the door as it, too, engulfs in flame. He looks in her room, only to find it empty. Her bed is still made. She’s not there.
"Nualia! Please, we must get out of here now!"
He rushes to the pews, looking between each one, hoping to find his aasimar daughter hiding, much like she used to as a little girl. He laments how cruel the humans were to her here. They would ask her as a child to touch their warts or their rashes, in hopes of curing them. She was touched by Desna, after all. But they didn’t leave her alone. Some people after mass would sneak up to her and cut pieces of her hair, using it in their makeshift fertility rituals and such. Sometimes people would use their young children to lure Nualia to their homes, in the ruse of having a play date, but really they wanted Nualia’s divine voice to cast out evil spirits that they believed were in their homes.
The rumors were ridiculous, and Father Tobyn tried to rid them of these silly notions, but humans are easily superstitious, making their own notions as they deem fitting. No way to treat a child, he thought, but he never overtly defended against these actions. It happened again and again.
Tobyn couldn’t find his adoptive daughter between the pews. He thought, where could she be?, as he searched for his daughter through the flames. They have started to ride up to the ceiling of the humble chapel now.
Tobyn looked in confessional booths, in sacramental closets, and as he continued his search, the temperatures rose and the fire increased in intensity.
When Nualia was nowhere to be found, he ran for the front door and shoved. The door didn’t open.
BOOM! BOOM!
He tries frantically over and over to open the door, but nothing. It was as if the door was stopped.
He begins chanting as he realizes the futility of searching elsewhere for an access point, with the fire blazing around him:
"Oh, Great Dreamer, master mine,
Grant me thy sweet aid divine.
Carry my soul into sky,
As the swallowtail ascends on high.
Grant me freedom, sweet release,
Find thy humble servant’s somber pleas.
May my soul soar through the trees,
Among the stars and in betweens."
As he repeats the chant again, he hears a distant laughter, the laughter of a fiend. As he looks over, trying to find the source of the laughter, something thuds against the top of his head, and his mind fades to blackness. The flames begin to lick his cloak, but he fades away before feeling the pain of the fire. As he fades, he says weakly, "Thank you, my love Starsong".
He wakes up to intense heat! Father Ezakien Tobyn, a human cleric of Desna, awakened in his bed, sweating, and realizes that the chapel is ablaze. Fire has reached his chambers, burning the curtains and draperies in the room.
"Nualia! Nualia, where are you?!? We must get out of here!!!"
He rushes out the door as it, too, engulfs in flame. He looks in her room, only to find it empty. Her bed is still made. She’s not there.
"Nualia! Please, we must get out of here now!"
He rushes to the pews, looking between each one, hoping to find his aasimar daughter hiding, much like she used to as a little girl. He laments how cruel the humans were to her here. They would ask her as a child to touch their warts or their rashes, in hopes of curing them. She was touched by Desna, after all. But they didn’t leave her alone. Some people after mass would sneak up to her and cut pieces of her hair, using it in their makeshift fertility rituals and such. Sometimes people would use their young children to lure Nualia to their homes, in the ruse of having a play date, but really they wanted Nualia’s divine voice to cast out evil spirits that they believed were in their homes.
The rumors were ridiculous, and Father Tobyn tried to rid them of these silly notions, but humans are easily superstitious, making their own notions as they deem fitting. No way to treat a child, he thought, but he never overtly defended against these actions. It happened again and again.
Tobyn couldn’t find his adoptive daughter between the pews. He thought, where could she be?, as he searched for his daughter through the flames. They have started to ride up to the ceiling of the humble chapel now.
Tobyn looked in confessional booths, in sacramental closets, and as he continued his search, the temperatures rose and the fire increased in intensity.
When Nualia was nowhere to be found, he ran for the front door and shoved. The door didn’t open.
BOOM! BOOM!
He tries frantically over and over to open the door, but nothing. It was as if the door was stopped.
He begins chanting as he realizes the futility of searching elsewhere for an access point, with the fire blazing around him:
"Oh, Great Dreamer, master mine,
Grant me thy sweet aid divine.
Carry my soul into sky,
As the swallowtail ascends on high.
Grant me freedom, sweet release,
Find thy humble servant’s somber pleas.
May my soul soar through the trees,
Among the stars and in betweens."
As he repeats the chant again, he hears a distant laughter, the laughter of a fiend. As he looks over, trying to find the source of the laughter, something thuds against the top of his head, and his mind fades to blackness. The flames begin to lick his cloak, but he fades away before feeling the pain of the fire. As he fades, he says weakly, "Thank you, my love Starsong".
