The lumbering figure nods slowly has the winds outside the cave whip by howling, a cold, bitter moan. The cave itself, a thing carved by other worldly hands an era ago, shines with a pearlescent of divinity. If anyone were there, if anyone were to listen closely, they might just hear the sound of scratching. Of a fine pointed tool slowly carving a design, a pattern, maybe just maybe a glyph.
“What are we working on today?” The large figure seated in the cavern working does not pause, nor do they even look up from their work. “Simply updating the protections. Even a glyph made by an origin has a tendency to fade over time.” The dragonic figure ducks through the opening to the cave, the ice and stone stone passage leading to it a challenge to navigate. “Come now Arolnus? A glyph of your failing would take centuries at least and of all of them the guards for our royal brethren are some of your finest works are they not?” “Even so, some things are too important. Letting this ward weaken even a little could prove a danger I wish not to engage with.”
Arolnus pauses a moment and raises up, stretching their limbs for the first time in hours, and looking down at Alsern for a moment. The dragon was tall compared to a mortal and the largest of their kind without question but even so Arolnus towered over them like a mountain to an ancient tree. Both beings of age and wonder but simply at completely different scales.
Arolnus sheathed his tool, a long dagger of dark metal, without a cutting edge but with a point finer than any other, and moved to a wall. Placing his thick fingers along it he began to trace patterns he’d carved a few centuries prior. It didn’t take him more than a moment before he discovered a spot of interest and delicately drawing his blade began to reshape the carved design.
Alsern moved to examine the work that had just finished. The complex interweaving of symbols freshly carved into an icy patch of stone along the floor did not glow or shine with any brilliance but Alsern knew better than to even touch it. The pure power instilled into it likely wouldn’t harm him but he decided it was wise when in the presence of “the Wise” to show some restraint. “It really is a wonder what you do Arolnus. Æ chose you to teach all this for a reason but I do wish Denora had already been around to figure out the why.”
“Why matters not” Arolnus retorted over the sound of carving stone “what matter is that it is my duty and my children’s duties.”
“Your children listen surprisingly well for that matter! Mine took our ‘duty’ and went entirely different directions.”
“I’m aware” a pause taken to breath and blow away the dust before the scratching resumed “that I have proven to be blessed by Nyxis’s kindness in my children’s behavior but a day will come for I as well when one will subvert their role and take my arts and turn them against the winds of Denora.” Arolnus stepped back, taking a cloth hug at their belt and whipping away some last dust before examining the carving. Arolnus nodded slowly again and turned to face Alsern the grey eyes of the giant origin meeting the golden eyes of the dragon origin “when that time comes I only hope that your children will understand their role in all this and that Nyxis and Denora might see it fit to help turn the course of events in our favor.”
“Worst case” Alsern began with a shrug “I’m sure one of Enil’s many children will find a way to meddle in it all.” The cavern echoed loudly as Arolnus let out a bellow of “Gyahahaha indeed. Some things are truer than others and Enil finding a means to meddle is surely one of them.” Arolnus reached down to embrace his sibling in the awkward hug before looking at Alsern and asking “so why are you even here?” The dragon giggled “do you not realize it’s your day after all?” The giant looked back puzzled and shook his head back and forth. “Oh come now Arolnus! It’s the first of OLN! It’s your month and it’s the dimmest it’ll be on this day in the cycle!” The giant’s eyes lit up “Then outside we must go! No better night for a star reading is there.”
The two made their way through the tunnels, Arolnus barely fitting some of the tighter passages even crawling, until the two gods finally reached the hidden snowy landing, a small shelf on a shear mountain cliff. Arolnus drew his tool again and turned to his companion “would you mind a bit of heat on the tip?” With a smile Alsern summoned a bit of firey breath and slowly breathed the divine flame onto the tools edge until it glowed white hot. Arolnus took the tool and began to make sweeping lines in the air the odd dagger cutting through the air and leaving a smoking design behind. With each stroke the storm waned. The winds calmed, the clouds parted, and the great unending blizzard upon the Sapphire Spires ceased if only for that brief moment as the two origins sat in the snow and gazed up at the vast sky filled with stars and constellations.
“Arolnus, what do you see for us” the whisper nearly vanished in the powder that surrounded them but the giant caught it and cradled the question as they traced the patterns in the celestial bodies. The artifacts of their creators process, the figments of their existence like the gem tucked in the mountain cavern behind them. Arolnus nodded slowly and smiled “Balance. I see balance Alsern. I see ups and downs, misery and happiness, destruction and construction, I see growth and union, life and death, I see more things than I could possibly count” he paused and breathed a deep breath, his breath creating a cloud in front of him “I see Denora’s hand and Nyxis’s and I see many children of each of us causing trouble but also so many rising to the task and making it alright. I think that’s what I see.” The giant origin’s words hung in the air like their breath in the bitter cold and the two sat quietly watching the stars disappear as the storm returned.
Tags: Alsern the Collector, Arolnus the Wise, Alcenomo the Sapphire Queen, Sapphire Mountain, Nyxis of Luck, Denora of Fate, Æ