The Void

She didn’t know what to expect when she left her Clan in the north six months ago.  She didn’t know of the world beyond their mountain valley—only stories from those who had ventured forth in their youth, perhaps on a dare or on a whimsical desire to see Elsewhere and Beyond.  Some returned.  Most did not. Would Théodwyn return? It was a question she had asked herself many times in the last six months, and still she could not even fathom a guess of what plans fate designed for her.  Despite the Rift Song thrumming in her chest, guiding her to safety more times than she could possibly count, she did not know that it would be enough to survive every danger that now occupied the chaos infested Rift.  Her world had changed so quickly, too quickly, but this was her purpose, her destiny.  A Seeker.  She bore the permanent blue bands on her hind leg proudly, marking her as the representative of her clan.  For six months, she travelled alone, leaving the valley of her homeland far behind and falling deeper into the belly of the Rift, seeking whispers and rumors of the godkillers. The Rift Song stirred in her chest, moving slowly and stiffly, as a bear that has just woken from a deep slumber.  Something was near. Straining, she attempted to cast forth the song even farther to identify whatever force lay in wait, but she could not refine the song any further.  The wasted effort left her with a headache, but no answers.  She could only continue forth and remain vigilant of her surroundings.   Pale mist suddenly clung to her, twining around her legs like a ghostly snake.  She could not remember a mist so opaque and oppressive.  Where had it come from?  More importantly, where had they come from?   Théodwyn heard them, first. They screamed and shouted, their voices panicked and filled with utter hysteria and fear.  Several fleeing bodies nearly trampled her down.  In her haste to avoid the strangers, she launched into flight and glided over the shadow filled portal.  The song stirred in her chest once more, a great inherent wrongness nearly causing her to crash back to the earth.  A dark, angry hunger…a force she had felt once, in the mountains, the day of her Proving and the day the Rift imbued its magic Song in her heart.  But it was different, somehow, more malevolent and feral, like a starved, wild beast.  The gods were dead, so why did this feel so much like one? More questions.  No answers. Is this what it felt like to be a Seeker?   No longer able to navigate her flight in the shadows and eerily pulsing neon lights, Théodwyn swept down once more into the mist and landed among the gnarled, twisted trees.  Trees that she swore watched her.  A figure parted the mist and shadow, the pale mist rolling back from his elegant figure like a curtain of lace.  A black wraith with strange, staring eyes, floated forth, two crystal beasts on either side with black eyes of death.  He did not seem particularly concerned with the situation at hand. She did not approach him any closer, but neither did she turn away.  The song was silent in her chest.  For the moment, she sensed no danger. “I take it you are not one of them,” she commented dryly, eyeing the floating creatures at his side warily.  She turned back to the fleeing mass of bodies, tucking her wings to her side so if another stampeding idiot came her way she would be ready to toss them towards the wraith's floating demons. The godkillers arrived, more and more of them emerging from the gaping portal of shadow. She watched. Unmoving. Hardly breathing. “What have they done?" she said, so softly she was not even sure she had spoken aloud at all.

Native Riftian
Safe [ Magic: Psychic ability to sense impending danger or forces with ill intent in immediate surroundings.]

[Items: Several colorful feathers in hair ]