Incline 42: Valkinvar-Imdvarce Vapooliar

"Shouldn't there be...?" asks one of the Valkinvar-Staguiffmani, her sister Valkinvar walking into the temple with her. Their strange aggression defiles the walk as they come deeper in, their spells... Lashing out at the architecture. I frown deeply, not sure what to make of this.

Why are Valkinvar destroying the very Grand Temple of the Valkinvar itself...? Is this related to why Sister Ogawa's armour ended up on my bed? Are these two related? Does the Zaphadren-Valkinvar know at all!?

I wince away, going deeper into the shadows as carefully as I can. I'm doing all that I can, but I'm still dressed in a way that doesn't help. No matter how gentle or nerve-wracking my slow steps are. They still gently tink and echo across the acoustic chamber. 

I keep still, focusing only on my breath for the time being. I'm already in the dark, hopefully they won't come this deep in. Who knows what will happen if they see me?

A false report? Assault of my person? A framed attack? Attempted murder...?

I don't understand why any of this is going on. I was promised privacy and yet, here are two Valkinvar-Staguiffmani ready for battle. Staves alight with emerald fire and lashing with bloodthirsty heatwaves. Though they are not fire witches, it is hard to see their present power as anything peaceful and seemingly calm.

Fire always consumes, just like their arcane might currently is. Lashing away at the stone, breaking the candles and decorations. Disrupting the pews and the holy texts. A harsh gulp fills out my throat, struggling its way down it.

"Sister Gemorli assured us there should be someone here. But, we were also told it would be dark." one of them goes, her teeth tight on the jaw and a vicious tap of the weapon coming alongside her. A blast of magic goes out, shattering a line of vases and more out of sight. A cold streak runs down my head necessity puts me at greater risk.

If my magic comes out in any way at all, they'll find me. With how they're acting, they will hurt... No, kill me. I don't understand, why has the Zaphadren-Valkinvar ordered my assassination...? What kind of Valkinvar orders assassinations!?

"Do I need to find...?" I mouth to myself, unable to keep my thoughts contained as an unwelcome want to move tenses my nerves. My muscles are quaking with energy and they want to move. They want to move. But I can't. Can't.

Should not.

Stay still. Stay out of sight. Out of their sight. Physical and magical. Stay out of sight...

My fingers slip across the back of the statue, clenching it tight as their footsteps continue to echo. Their destruction of the holy site shouting far and wide ahead of them. The spells are close by, but far away, too.

One races by, bursting into a ball of all-revealing light. I duck away, my armour scraping about in tune with the sound of metal breaking. I come to a stop, slowly shifting my way back to normal. Their steps come to another stop, their spells wavering.

"Did you hear that?" one asks, her curiosity lighting up the whole temple. An ominous Mountain Emerald floods the room. Shadows hide wherever they can, in nooks and crannies. By me. 

I glance up slightly, watching the magic just barely edge away onto my hair. Not a full, flowing brush of it. Just a straggler, a lone, annoying straggler. I duck down and down, hoping to not make too much noise.

"Whatever. She's probably gone somewhere..." one goes, her impatience almost my saviour.

"No." the other calls out, her arm swiping wide and bringing with it a banging crash across the temple. I wince and flinch, banging so very gently on the statue base.

"How particular," the other goes.

"Indeed..." the one with her magic flaring says, her very tone painting such a clear picture of her smug satisfaction. My fists tighten up, and my eyes narrow as my breathing breaks out of my control. A glare settles in, on my face for sure, and with so little doubt on theirs.

Footsteps begin their journey away, but only half of what an ideal situation should. I cling closer to the statue and its base, hoping to at least make them think they're overthinking the situation. It's just like they said, the candles were lit. They shouldn't have been, according to their sources...

The Zaphadren-Valkinvar herself.

"But why...?" I mouth to myself, unable to grasp why she would do anything like this. Are they lying? They have to be, right...? No... No... She was hesitant about the visions. She was the only one to react aggressively to the visions.

Wait... No... Wait, the Zaphadren-Valkinvar was the person I found myself being in the vision? Symbolism aside, that was *that* night where so many of the Ordoar Staguiffmani died!? Is she even Sister Gemorli proper!?

I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand... How...?

I look one way and then another, shivering with uncertainty and despair as too much floods my mind. W-Wait... This is the vision, right? This is the vision I was awaiting?

It has to be, this makes no sense at all on its own. But even if this is a vision, how in All-That-Remains does it make any sense at all!? What is this meant to tell me!? That there are traitors among the Ordoar Staguiffmani!? That an on-coming conflict will see the Valkinvar turn on each other?

"Am... I...?" I speak with broken breath, pressing and pinching what I can of my face. I can feel myself. But, I could feel things in the last vision, too. Is this a vision or not...? Can I just walk on out of here or?

I should be able to make a break for the temple exit. Get to the nearest temple guard. I can report the incident. If this a vision, it should end in the temple... If it isn't, then I do not know what I can...

Can I even move fast enough? Mountain Emerald still shines so brightly in the temple. The Valkinvar-Staguiffmani here is a powerful witch. Far beyond me. They both are, but I know at least one is several grades higher... And they're not equal references at all.

I don't know. What... What am I supposed to do...?

Run? Run. Run! Run for it, now!

I crouch down, moving ahead in time with the destruction of the temple décor. I take one step into the open, getting just enough of me out there.

"There you are," the Valkinvar-Staguiffmani goes, a blast of spellfire erupting across the floor. I skid to a halt, falling on my backside and across the floor the way I came. Magic booms around me, throwing me right into the indestructible walls of the temple. Another blast of magic erupts, eager for the touches of my feet.

I thrust my way up, instinctually going for my sword and finding nothing there.

"DAMMIT!" I cry, patting around for anything I can infuse my magic into. Anything at all. My hands clamp down onto a grounded candelabra, crushing into its figure. I come back into the open, my Whisper Beryl might meeting the Mountain Emerald. 

It consumes my magic through its sheer weight of power. Never mind that I am facing a Valkinvar-Staguiffmani, my magic has no chance against her. None at all! Another spell comes out, one seemingly there to simply taunt me.

Fear locks me up, ironically saving me this one time as glass shatters around me. It rains down, the magic-rich stained imagery cutting against my armour and its cloth. A bit slices down my face, parting my skin so very slightly. I flinch to the side, turning to face one of the traitors and then the other one.

One stays inside, the other keeps the entrance sealed. I glance back at the broken windows, sparing not even a blink of time for the moment. My legs bend, throwing me for it. A spell beats me, throwing me back into the temple proper.

A circle of taunting song erupts around me. I push myself up, watching the two traitors as they continue to spin about and about. Their staves alight with killing intent and the ability to do it. I keep my candelabra close, clutching it tighter and tighter as my magic settles in. 

"WHEN THE ZAPHADREN-" I cry out with all I have, hoping it might somehow reach one of the temple guards, or even more.

"When she finds out?" one traitor interrupts, her cruel laughter shutting me right up.

"Sister Gemorli wants you dead. She wants you all dead. All in the name of our love..." the Valkinvar-Staguiffmani admits so perversely. A frown weighs heavily upon my face, its confusion so dangerous in a time like this. I turn towards the statue of Waionr, only hearing their cruel laughter grow in intensity. As do their building spells.

"Our love...? He's right there... He would be..." I struggle to get out, unable to understand anything about this. If this is reality, then I cannot accept it. It has to be a vision. It must be a vision. How can this be anything but a vision!?

"OUR LOVE THE CHOSEN-HEIR-TO-ACSEND, PRINCE JHRARTUR!" they cackle in unison, their voices full of obnoxious swooning and an inconceivably treacherous lust. I blink, unable to process their feelings or their words.

Prince Jhrartur...? Our great enemy? The man who tried to siege our home...? The one who killed so many of our sisters and brothers, destroying our homeland with his airships!?

"HOW COULD YOU!? HOW COULD ANY OF YOU DO THIS TO US!? TO YOUR HUSBAND-TO-BE!? GAAAH!" I cry out, suddenly finding a spell digging into my gut. It throws me up and high, smashing me into a ceiling. So I can fall to the floor...

My ears ring with shock. Echoing their laughter, their cruelty endlessly to me. I try to push myself back to my feet, only to meet a bladed staff base. They cut up, teasing me with death and slicing deep where they can. Warmth bursts out around me, a clear stinging sign all across my body.

Armour falls off, cloth tears. I feel myself growing ever naked by the blow. Blows so fast the clocks barely have time to move. All under the light of an ever still moon. 

"The Valkinvar will die out... And you... You, you filthy failure... Will die. First." one tells me, her tone low and growling as she kicks me further along the ground. The other comes in stopping me with a single stomp on my ribs. A crack fills the air, only making them laugh harder as blood bursts up through my lips.

"Wh-Why...?" I struggle to ask, my head unable to find a focus. A part of me wants to curl up, hope they'll grow bored. My training wants me to fight. But my mind knows I have no chance.

Temple guards... Where are you? Vision... End this vision, please...

"If only you could get it. You would think after we spent all that time hunting down the weakest part in the national defence line, you would understand." one goes.

"But you don't. We threw you out to die and leave such a fine wound for our lover to hook himself into. We gave him that chance. That chance to destroy all that these failure gods and goddesses have built. It was not Waionr who awoke the Emerald Mountain. It was not him... Not Motherhood, not Thunder and most certainly none of the others!" one of them goes, her foot finding my face and then my neck.

I choke on the blow, finding myself suddenly on my feet and shoved ahead.

"IT WAS THE MIGHTY WHO DID! JHRARDA THE MIGHTY! WE OWE OURSELVES TO HIM! A GOD WHO SAVED ALL OF JHERIKRA! NOT A GOD OF WAR WHO DOESN'T EVEN FIGHT HIS OWN WARS!" the other screams with all her magic-amplified voice has. I can hear no more. Only their memories echo about my broken body. I stumble about, watching them join together with a spell building in their hands.

The spell fires away.

It hits my gut, drilling against me so close to my womb. It blasts its way through, coming out with more than it breaks on the way in. I fly with it. I strike the temple's centrepiece and drop to the floor, a sudden, all-consuming cold taking me.

Life fades away from me, my strength already gone. I can still see in the dark, dimmer as the limited light keeps going. My eyes have all my lasts bits of life in them. I look one way and then another.

I slump to the side, falling into my blood and into the breaking in light of the full moon. I trace the light, watching it waver and shiver. Something else comes into view. A tail. It slithers into view, whipping itself to life. The moonlight and the blood reflect a faded image.

A beast, with a head and mane that is emblazoned like a shield.

For all I cannot hear... I hear one thing from this.

Its jaws quiver and shake with guttural roars. Bursting into such intensity. It simmers down, growling away and erupting once again. Resonant. Powerful.

I'm so cold...