"We are the future, we are the aspiring, we are the potential, we only need one parent to guide us, We are cared by her, we are rewarded by her, we are nurtured by her, we are the Children of Zyra." Aliki leads the chant amongst the population of Youth's Haven. The settlement's population which is only sixty all reside in her church currently.
"My brothers! My sisters! My siblings! We must not give up hope for our quest of eternal youth! For our great mother herself spoke to me last night!" The crowd of children excitedly murmur amongst themselves.
"She told me that a key to our quest will be revealed today! The other five prophets have yet to shown, but she made it clear that this key is not one. So be it known today that if only one child finds their way here today, then welcome them with more then open arms because they may hold the key!" A bell then rings signalling that the sermon is dismissed.
The boy called in favors with old friends, and sold the remnants of his possessions. He had to book passage to Kishahn and hire guides. Orphans were dreaming of a temple in Kishahn, dedicated to a goddess called Zyra. Ewan wouldn't have paid it much mind if he wasn't trapped as a scrawny 8-year-old. He knew it was getting harder to wield magic, and his only lead was her temple.
Ewan's clothes were torn and rank with sweat and dirt. He and Shaggy had been traveling two days in the jungle. Surviving was difficult, but between the boy's sorcery and the wolfhound's bark they'd warned off most predators.
His map was crude - drawn by an teenaged erand-boyfrom the trading post - none of the sailors, merchants, or hunters seemed to know a thing about Zyra. Worry crept into his mind this was all a wild goose-chase. Even if he and Shaggy could make it back to the trading post, how would he return home? There was only enough coin for a one-way trip, and Ewan didn't relish having to work his way back to La'marri on a ship.
Suddenly Shaggy started barking excitedly. "Easy boy, easy, what is it?"
Through the thick trees and folliage Ewan spied carved stonework in the distance...
Most of the children returned to their resting quarters which currently is the great lodge. Once more prophets show the great lodge will be where they stay and building plans will work towards residential areas. The settlement right now consists of the church, the great lodge, and a trading post.
Aliki keeled in front of the statue of Zyra praying, when he heard a knock on the church door. "Come in!" He yelled right after finishing his prayer. Tobias the main watchman of the settlement runs in.
"Sorry to disturb you mista but ah child has been spotted...bless it be our great mother is giving us ah gift."
It wasn't evident because of his mask, but Aliki was grinning from ear to ear. "Thank you for the report Tobias, return to your post. I want to greet this person myself. " Tobias bows then leaves. Aliki walks out and awaits at the front of the church.
Ewan crept nearer the trio of buildings in search of occupants. They were primitive-looking, but still intact at the very least. A slim figure stood in his path, wearing a simple robe and a strange wooden mask. He mustn't have been as sneaky as he thought.
It looked like a kid.
"Hello?" Ewan called out uncertainly, "Is this the temple of Zyra? I'm Ewan. I've been lookin' for it."
He hoped the boy was friendly, and hospitable. He could do with a bath, a good meal, and a change of clothes.
Aliki ran up to him trying to hide his excitement. He then bows before the boy. "Ah! we've been awaiting your presence, Zyra told me about you. I am Aliki Marama currently the first of the six prophets. You look weary, we still have a room within the great lodge that hasn't been filled yet. You also seem to be a bit dirty, we don't have a bathhouse yet, but we have a river near by."
"You were expecting me? You know what I am?" Wide-eyed, Ewan took a step back as the boy-priest scampered up and bowed. He wasn't expecting that at all.
"I wasn't sent by anyone. I came here looking for answers and thought Zyra's priest's might help..." Ewan tried to hide how dubious he was of the child-prophet. He knew he shouldn't be. Gods knew people doubted him all the time. "You're in charge here? Just what is this place anyway?"
He followed Aliki, rattling off questions as the boy lead him to... the river?
Aliki led him to the river motioning him to enter "This is Youth's Haven were all children of Zyra gather and live together under her care. I am the first of six prophets to arrive here making me the defacto leader, and most people do not know their fate. The rest of your questions will be answered in time, but for now you should wash."
"So there're no adults here? None? You survive on your own?" Ewan asked in spite of Aliki's instructions. How did they gather food? Build? Tend the sick? Maybe they didn't need it...
The water was cystal blue.
Ewan dropped his pack, without a care for the spellbook and reagents within, and peeled away his shirt. He gave a whistle and Shaggy came splashing after him into the river. With a blush, he realized Aliki was still there.
"Oh, um. I'll be done in a moment... just need a bit of privacy is all."
"Ah of course." Aliki begins to make his leave when he notices that Ewan left his bag behind. A glimmer dances within his eyes. "This may contain the key that our great mother told me about." He whispers to himself.
Aliki quickly snatches up the bag while Ewan wasn't looking and retreated into a cluster of plants and trees. Upon opening the bag he discovers what seems to be a spell book. Eyes now full of mirth he greedily takes the book and starts flipping through it.
Ewan soaked in the warm stream, brushing the dirt and grime from his pale skin. Meanwhile the dog splashed through the shallows as a concession to the jungle heat.
"Stop splashing!" Ewan pouted, prompting the animal to bound toward him.
Aliki found Ewan's spellbook to mostly hold herbal remedies in the early pages. The book progressed to magically growing plants and calling forth animals. One particular passage caught the boy-priest's eye. It was accompanies by a sketch of a spindly androgynous figure laced in vines.
Ruanyth
A spirit of growth and renewal. It is revered in the back country hills shared by Connlaoth and Serendipity of northern serendipity. Appeased in the spring by planting sapplings. Older traditions show planting was done in the charred remains of a grotesque sacrifice: boars, orcs, humans?
Several notes are written in the margins...
Possible Bargains
Youth for knowledge
Everlasting youth - stasis of growth?
The pages that followed listed complex summoning diagrams and incantations.
Satisfied he was clean after a lazy fifteen minute swim, Ewan stood up and began hunting for his clothes...
"The key..." Aliki's eyes lit up "We just need the resources to reach this destination." Aliki hears Ewan start to get out, he quickly waves his staff and the plant life around begins to grow. I picks up the bag and returns it to the original spot.
Aliki casually walks out of the brush. "Did you enjoy your bath?....you know what I do not think I caught your name."
Ewan slipped back into his tattered shirt and britches. His clothes were clean now, but had seen better days. The dampness wasn't bothersome in the jungle heat.
"Sorry, Aliki, I thought I gave it. I'm Ewan ap Rhys from La'marri. I suppose your goddess told you what I am? Used to be twenty five and a lot taller till a year ago when I tried a youthening spell," he grinned up at the taller boy, "Not that I mind not having to shave.
"I came here looking for answers about what's happened to me, and to make sure it don't-" he corrected himself "-doesn't get worse. Are there others like me here?"
"Well you were yelling something before I met you, but it doesn't matter either way. It is a pleasure Ewan."
As Ewan went on Aliki eyed him curiously. "The great mother did not mention this. This is very intriguing indeed." Aliki looks in the distance for a moment then back at Ewan. "To answer your question, no one here is like that, but with your help there may be."
Ewan blushed. Did he just go on a wild-goose chase just to find a city full of kids? He hoped not.
The boy couldn't help but be curious. "There may be? I'm sure a lot of grownups want to be young again, but not this young. The spell took all the stuff I learned, like my magic. It gives you the mind of a little kid, too, so you may as well be born again. That's why I need help."
Ewan hefted his pack and whistling for Shaggy, and the two boys started back toward the village.
"So what did your goddess tell you?"
Hidden under his mask Aliki raised an eyebrow. "Our great mother told us that you are or hold the key to let us enter the next step of becoming the eternal youth."
Ewan looked up at the boy. He was hard to read through the mask.
Why hadn't their goddess granted them that boon? And if they couldn't achieve eternal youth... how could they reverse his spell? It would be better to bargain than lay out all his cards. "I s'pose I might be able to help you if you really want this," he spread his arms, gesturing to his waifish frame. "Think you or your goddess could help me be big again? Or at least get my powers back?"
"She is a very nurturing deity, but frowns upon us aging. Getting your powers back most likely, returning to your age I doubt it. After all it must have been her work to cause that fate on you. I mean how else would you have entered here."
Aliki starts walking back to the settlement motioning Ewan to follow. "I believe finding a way to return your powers is vital for both of us."
"Any magic to age me back would likely make me ugly and old anyhow. Not going to take any chances there" Ewan cracked a faint smile. "I don't remember invoking a Zyra during the ritual. Hadn't even heard of her until now, unless she goes by other names...
"If you're her prophet, can't you just invoke her to restore my power? I don't really know how that works." The boy never had much use or reverence for gods. He'd read enough of binding and commanding daemons and faeries that he was dubious of omnipotence.
"I wouldn't expect you to, adults do not revere her and most children do not have the chance to learn about her. That is one of our goals, to spread her wisdom."
Aliki enters the settlement and heads towards the church. "As a prophet I cannot invoke anything. I can only speak with her. If we are greedy with our mother she will not aid us."
"You're aiming to live like this forever and ever, I suppose?" Ewan glanced around the settlement. A small crowd of children, clad in loin cloths and grass skirts, stood outside the great lodge, watching as a pair of teen boys wrestle. They grinned and waved at Aliki, watching the newcomer curiously.
"I"m an Animancer, mostly. My magic works on plants and animals. It just isn't as strong as it should be," Ewan went on, dryly. The boy-priest seemed serious-minded enough that talk of complex magics might hold his attention. Ewan extended a palm and closed his eyes, tongue jutting from the corner of his mouth. A small, sickly-looking twig sprang up- sporting two shriveled berries. It smelled rotten and horrible. Ewan scrunched his nose... his demonstration overdoing it. "See?
"Any ideas for our next step?"
Aliki gags at the smell and turns the branch to dust. "I see we have similar magics. I'm a geomancer, in other words I can control earth based items."
He stands at the foots steps of the church. Looking back to see his siblings play brought a smile from under his mask. He looks back towards the church. "Our next step is to present you to Zyra, follow me." Aliki then enters through the church doors.
Ewan squinted as they stepped into the bamboo and reed church, constructed atop a much older stone room. It was a simple affair: a floor covered with grass and fur mats, bad backs hardly a consideration here. A maternal statue and altar were situated at the rear of the church; her hands resting on the shoulders of a crudely carved boy and girl.
The boy chewed his lip. He would never have been afraid of spirits, faeries, and gods before... but he could hardly defend himself now. His gaze flickered to Alik; hair scruffy and clothes tattered despite the bath.
"Do I need to do anything? Bring an offering or anything? I've done a few summonings before; I know etiquette's important and all..." his voice was small and uncertain.
"There is no need to compensate our mother. As long as you're truly a child she will notice you. Just kneel before me and I will bring you to her. You will be traversed as if you are dreaming, but you'll need me because only a prophet can communicate with her."
Aliki did a small prayer facing the statue of Zyra, then turned around facing Ewan once more. "Oh and I hope you have a strong stomach this world isn't meant for non prophets."
"She seems awful... generous. Between geomancy and dream travel... it must be nice to be a prophet." Ewan murmured with a half-smile. He'd learn soon if they were the real thing. "Will we truly even be leaving your church?"
The boy kneeled uneasily beside Aliki. It felt awkward to kneel and bow his head in supplication, but he did it anyway, stealing the occasional peak at the statue and prophet.
"Our bodies will remain here, but our minds shall travel afar into our mother's realm." Aliki puts both his palms together and begins chanting in a strange language. His eyes bare a white glow, he then touches Ewan's forehead and flash of light filled the church.
Aliki's eyes fluttered open and before him was a familiar environment. A grassy meadow shrouded with a magenta mist. Looking over he spots Ewan lying next to him. "How are you feeling?"
Ewan felt the bristle of soft grass; the world was spinning. He struggled to sit up, but keeled over with a gasp. "I'm- I'm fine. Didn't expect dream travel to be so jarring," it was his old voice, a young man's and not a boy's. When he struggled to his feet Ewan stood a head taller than Aliki, who looked more like a kid in a costume than the dignified priest he recalled.
A cocky smile crossed Ewan's face. The whole affair was bound to offend his host, but he wasn't afraid. He felt like the sorcerer he'd ought to be. "I don't feel much different, but I suppose this is... my spirit, my dreamself, or my mental self-image or somesuch..."
The natural beauty of Zyra's realm was breathtaking. In all directions there was lush meadow and magenta mist. "Well, lead on kiddo. We'll get me, and your Haven, sorted out."
Aliki stood up and eyes Ewan with doubt. "Hmm this is not good...not good at all. Your spirit is one of an adult so you may not be able to even be acknowledged by our great mother."
Aliki puts his hand up to his mask in a ponderous position. "Hmm well i guess there is no harm in trying. Just follow me, if we get separated you'll be lost in here forever." With that Aliki started heading north.
"Always thought I was young at heart," Ewan cracked a smile. "If she means for me to help you, I'm sure she'll make an exception."
He followed Aliki north. It was a frightening thought you could be lost in her realm forever. Ewan thought it unbecoming of a goddess of youth and beauty, but held his tongue; offending her here wasn't a good idea!
"How'd you become her prophet?"
The farther north they went, the more trees appeared to dot the the landscape. This continued until it became a forest of weeping willows. Within the forest the mist started becaoming a thick fog and Aliki had to rely on his memory to stay on path.
Upon hearing Ewan's question he sighed. "I became a prophet like how most do. I was chosen by her and she sent me a message from her realm."
"I've never been much for the gods. Prophecy and theology aren't my forte. And it was you still chose to listen. Most kids I know are eager to grow up. You're a curiosity for certain," he smiled "Very sage, if I may, for someone keen on remaining twelve forever."
The fog was thickening. In his bones Ewan felt a growing eldritch presence. Was it her? He quickened his pace to keep up with the taciturn priest.
"So, what is this mist? You seem... frightened of it?"
Aliki chuckled. "It was a calling that you don't ignore. As for my personality I must be a leader, but I can be funloving and youthful if I want, that is the beauty of eternal youth."
"As for the mist, it her power. It is the flowing free will of eternity, but confined here because she must restrain herself due to her maternity."
"God to know you take time away from being a prophet to make silly faces in the mirror with the rest of your flock."
Ewan thought he saw figures playing in the fog, but chalked it up to imagination... It has hard to fathom a frivolous goddess of youth and children holding so much power. But then she was a goddess; her immortal followers bound to have a wealth of knowledge.
The duo continued through the eerie realm. It was all trees and flowers in bloom, eternal spring, without a whiff of artifice or man-made structure. "We've been walking a while. Are we near her? I'm sensing some sort of arcane power nearby..."
Aliki looks longingly in the distance. "Yes...we are quite close. The power that you are sensing is the loving arms of Zyra. There is hope after all..."
The trees began to disperse and circled around forming a grassy dead end with the shrine of Zyra bestowed in the middle. The mist seceded from the clearing and rays of sunshine peeked in. "Here we are."
Ewan stared at the Zyra's statue, squinting through the fog as the overcast realm turned bright and sunny. The clearing was pretty but eerily still. There was no sign of the goddess.
"Should I be seeing her?" Ewan asked, uncertainly. She should be here. She needed him. It was a foolish thought but he had to hang onto whatever leverage he had. In this spirit-form it was easy to forget how meek and uncertain he felt in his real body. He had to get this right.
Aliki clasped his hands together and dropped to his knees. "Our great mother, is this the key you sent us? If so will you do your children the humble favor of bestowing your presences for us."
Ewan fell silent and exhaled sharply. Grateful the spirit hasn't ejected him.
As Aliki prayed the vegetation around the statue began to rustle. The vines began to weave themselves into a voluptuous, feminine form wreathed in flowers; simultaneously youthful and maternal. She reached out with a smile and tipped Aliki's heae back.
"The key is within your grasp, my son," she said warmly. "The sorcerer has the potential, but not the agency. Alas, you know as I do I have no power over him. Not for good and not for I'll."
She spoke like Ewan wasn't there. "Aren't you... A goddess?" The mage asked.
Zyra took one look at Ewan, then back to Aliki. "Tell the sorcerer that I can only talk to my prophets and that I am indeed a Goddess."
Aliki relayed this information to Ewan. He knew that this has become a gray area, if he wasn't a child of Zyra, but wasn't an adult to her, then where did Ewan stand?
"Tell Zyra that even if I see myself this way, I'm a head shorter and much rounder than you in the flesh," he cracked a bemused smile. "Surely there's a way she can give me the power to attempt the spell again - for the whole village?"
"Can't she somehow... transfer the power to me through you? I suppose its fair she doesn't condider me a true child... but that'd mean she'd not consider you proper children if I can work my spell on your village. And I am the key."
"I will try my my best, but I cannot guarantee results." Looking back to Zyra, Aliki asked if there is anything that she could do, but humbly respected if it was a no, for he did not want to be greedy.
"My Child, if you come back with a pink lotus, then I can grant you that power, but only for a short time." And with that Zyra vanished.
Aliki looked over to Ewan guessing that he was going to ask about the pink lotus. "Lotus' here are like treasures here for their serenity. The color of a lotus is the type of task that needs to be done, and pink is magic based tasks."
Ewan peered around the misty glade, half-expecting to be whisked into the waking world. "Is it here or in the waking world?" The fog on the edges of the sunny glade looked much more foreboding, and vast. An infinite haze of immortals' memories, wasn't it?
"Seems a simple task, unless its deep in the jungle or the fog. Ever done this sort of thnig before?"
"Simple isn't how I'd put it...I did this once before, we must journey south-east to find the swamp. Alas the last time I did this was when I first found the settlement."
"Do we need to do this alone?" He thought back to several of the Haven's teenaged residents; on the cusp of adulthood and liable to be evicted soon by their fickle goddess."Some of your older siblings look... strong and capable and wilderness. Is the swamp that bad?"
Ewan paused again, giving himself a pinch on the forum. "We'd ought to be waking up soon too, yes?"
Aliki merely laughed at this notion as he head towards the swamp. "You'll be safe, our great mother does not wish us to be harmed...but if anything were to happen, we are both mages of nature, anything that our great mother does not want moved...won't."
The trees started to thicken more as they exited the clearing. "As for when we'll wake up...I cannot answer that. There really isn't a sense of time here, we could've been here for hours , or for minutes...in dreams the time fluxes a lot."
"The swamp is here. I see," Ewan mused. "Otherwise I'm not so familiar with Kishahn's plants and beasts. Would hate to be lost without a guide, even with sorcery."
The mist began to thicken around the trees. He didn't like the silence. On the very edge of his vision he thought he saw waifish, spindly forms watching from the tree-like but he couldn't ever get a clear look. Otherwise there was no fauna. Soon, the tall grass began to grow damp and squishy as they neared the water table.
"What does retrieving the lotus test, exactly, if the swamp itself isn't risky to traverse?"
"It is a test of loyalty and patience. If we were to give up on the task then our great mother repeal her blessing, then this dream will become a nightmare."
Aliki's foot suddenly sunk into a pit of mud, causing him to stumble. "Gaaah!" He controls some vines to catch him before falling face first into the swamp. Slowly standing up on the vines he goes into perched lookout position. "Oh! I also forgot to mention, have fun doing this! She likes her children to be responsible, but also fun loving."
Ewan cracked a smile at Aliki's near fall. "I just waded through a steaming jungle. Spirit-world or not I've never been one for getting wet and dirty. Seems more your domain."
The young man carefully crossed a floating log, and offered a hand to Aliki. He was eager to get his powers back, and fun can't exactly be forced, can it? It was hard not to be dubious of the whole affair; close as he'd gotten. "So how do you propose we make this fun? If that's what she's really after. All I see is mist and something tantamount to a needle in a hay-stack..."
"Well we make a game out of it." He slowly balances himself on the log. "Lets see...how about we're treasure hunters and we're looking for the flower while wild beasts are chasing up?"
"I haven't played pretend in ages. But its worth a try if you think it'll help," he offered Aliki a hand off the fallen brabcg.
Ewan cleared his throat and summoned his subpar acting skills. He spoke in a deadpan "We have been traveling in this swamp for days and there is no sign of the, uh, the tressure? I do hope the swamp trolls have lost our trail.
He studied the priest for signs of approval.
Suddenly, a deep below echoed across the misty bog.
Chuckling on the inside at his attempt, Aliki plays along. "Oh no! They followed us here!" A loud roar echoed through the swamp as two brownish green trolls covering in algae storm through the depths of the swamp, each holding spiked clubs.
"Quickly follow me!" Aliki summoned a vine down and grabbed onto it as if it were a rope. Stepping back to get a running start he swings forwards. In a pendulum like motion Aliki reaches the top and summons another vine to hold onto, he repeated the action whenever his current rope was at max momentum.
Ewan raised his hands defensively at the sight of the trolls. "Get behind me. I think I can take- wait!" Already Aliki was carried off by swinging vines. Ewan sloshed after him but it was no use; he was mired in the muck and the trolls were coming. The mage murmured a spell and fell to a crouch. His skin turned green and mottled, and his bones re-arranged to something more frog-like.
Soon, the frog-man was hopping along a trail of fallen branches, tree-roots, and lillypads after the priest. The two were neck-to-neck. It seemed like he was hopping for ages, deeper and deeper into the swamp. "I think-" he croaked, a loud and involuntary ribbit, "-we lost them! Just where are we going?!"
Aliki continued swinging until he looked back and noticed that Ewan wasn't following the vines. Distracted, his hand slips and he plunges into the swamp. Popping his head out of the murky water, Aliki notices a frog like Ewan.
"I'm not quite sure, from what I heard, the treasure is within a sunken ship. Only a minute afterwards a piece of drift wood floats up ten feet behind Aliki.
"Sunken? I s'pose I shouldn't bother turning back... much as I hate this slime." The frog-man deftly leapt to the floating plank of driftwood. The mage extended a webbed, green hand to Aliki. A smirk crossed his still humanish face, "Don't suppose you'd care to join me?"
"Though what's a boat doing in a swamp anyway?" he muttered. It all had seemed so real. It was easy to forget this was all a product of imagination. The sensible thing to do would be to play along. But Ewan was a skeptic.
The mist was thick, but the trees and undergrowth seemed to be thinning and the water deepening as if on queue. An enormous reptilian shape crested the water in the distance which sent his heart racing. He patiently waited for Aliki to take his hand, but he couldn't help his heart from racing.
As Ewan started to question the logic, the driftwood flickers. Concern twists onto Aliki's face as he grabs Ewan's hand and plunges into the murky depths. Feeling the water ripple he turns to face Ewan. "We can't have you question any of this, but it seems your mind isn't only possibly setting us back, but is creating monsters too."
The ripples begin shaking lividly. A massive crocodile emerges smashing through branches and any other possible obstacle in its way. "Hurry! We must head down! And don't question the crocodile either! It won't help us if we take the easy way!" Aliki yells before submerging into the the deep green waters.
"But isn't getting chased by monsters f-" Ewan decided to take the priest's advice and not argue about the dream-world further, hard as that was. The frog-man plunged into the deep. The water was a murky-green brown, but just enough pale sunlight filtered through to illuminate the depths of what had become a lake. At the very bottom, amidst a forest of algae and reeds, he could make out an up-turned wooden wreck.
The shape of the crocodile loomed closer.
Ewan's amphibious form could swim circles around the child. He grabbed Aliki around the shoulder, and kicked toward the sunken ship. He could do something about their lack of gills later.
Holding his breath, Aliki imagines growing gills and as soon as he feels the slits in his cheeks he takes a deep breath. Noticing the ship ahead he imagines a hole in the side, due to being hit by a cannonball.
A loud noise rips through the air and the crocodile laid limp. The shadow of another ship looms over them. "That'll keep us safe until we come back up."
Ewan darted from the ship in a flurry of bubbles as cannonball cracked through the hull. All this time in a kid's body had made him fearful and skittish! It was hard to shake off. The dead crocodile was such a relief he didn't need to act "Your pirate friends have better aim than I expected!"
Aliki was the first through the narrow breach. Ewan was surprised he could fit at all. He was an adult in the dreamscape and much taller than Aliki...
The inside of the ship was rife with colorful fish and the beginnings of a reef. Pale phosphorescence lit the way through a maze of refuse and undersea vegetation. It was the ocean now. Ewan paused to admire the fauna and flora. "Pretty, isn't it?"
Aliki took a moment himself to embrace the nature. "Yes...It's so...beautiful" Aliki begins to trail off then re focuses on the task at hand.
"Ok the flower should be somewhere within this ship. The only question is where?" A glimmer of pink light pokes through, almost as if leading them deeper into the ship. Aliki follows the light without a second thought, not even checking if Ewan followed.
Ewan watched Aliki swim off in feverish pursuit of the flower. The sorcerer decided to linger, at least a bit, to appreciate it all. He was surprised it wasn't the boy who decided to stay in the maze of colorful plants and playful fish. He reached down and picked up a starfish. Its long tendrils squirmed in his grip, but it didn't sting at least...
He darted through the same door as Aliki. He found the priest floating before a bed of sea anemomies, a brilliant red glow visible through their tendrils. Ewan crept closer with a hint of a smile, ready to drop the wriggling starfish on the boy's head.
(Sorry for the delay!)
(I'm so sorry I've been so busy lately)
The starfish plops onto the back of Aliki's head and suctions on. Alilki yelps with surprise while grabbing it. After feeling it a bit, he identifies it's a starfish and peels it off. Giggling while smiling under his mask, Aliki turns around and throws the starfish at Ewan's face.
Before Ewan could react, Aliki dives into the anemones and finds himself surrounded in darkness, only guided by the pink light.
(No worries. Take your time!)
He batted the starfish away with a laugh, setting the squirming creature down on the algae-coated deck.
"Careful! They can sting!" Ewan's eyes bugged out as the priest dove into the writhing mass of stinging tendrils. Of course, it was all play-aacting and he knew the solution when he imagined the poisonous creatures into existence. Orange and white scales jutted from Ewan's and Aliki's skin, and fins from their arms and back... the pair were turning into clown fish.
With his transformation underway Ewan darted into the forest of tentacles to search for the priest. In the very back of his mind he wondered what dying meant in this dreamscape. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that...
Aliki's focuses so much on the light, that he completly forgets to imagine something to stop the stinging. One by one each tendril zaps him, sending jolts through his whole nervous system, he begins to loose consciousness.
The light shines brighter and brighter, then darkness. This process repeats, but the darkness takes longer to stop each time. "Have to stay awake...have to stay..." The flower enters Aliki's sight right before the darkness consumes his vision.
"Damn," Ewan swore under his breathe. With little choice he dove into the bastion of tendrils in search of Aliki. He'd given himself clown-fish scales, luckily, and a thick coat of mucus warded off the anemones. The slime felt unpleasant but he hadn't managed this sort of magic in years. That felt good.
The young man propelled himself through the gloom, guided only by the crimson light. That's when he saw Aliki's listless body. The rose was further ahead.
Saving the child seemed obvious.
He grabbed Aliki's shoulder and kicked backwards. The Yoreiqi seemed heavier than before. Ewan could see why. His scaly arm seemed skinner? And Aliki seemed larger than he remembered.
The dreamscape grew dark and murky as Ewan retreated from the goal, Aliki in tow.
(Alright, hopefully I can respond more frequently)
"Aliki my child." A voice resonates within the darkness of the young prophet's mind. He flutters his eyes open, and there his goddess Zyra stood.
"Great mother..." Aliki only manages to whisper, wondering what realm this could be.
"Tell me my child, did you have fun?" Her words were so soothing...so maternal. It made Aliki feel so comfortable. A grin creeps behind his mask.
"Yes I did! Though it was hard work, it was that much more enjoyable to play with Ewan. Is he worthy to stay?" Zyra didn't speak at first, causing Aliki's anxiety to rise.
"It seems he has proven himself." A pink flower appears on the young prophet's hands and with that everything melted away. He suddenly jolts up in the church that he performed the ritual in. Looking over to a still comatose Ewan, he hopes that he'll wake up soon.
As the dreamscape shifted again Ewan caught a glimpse of the goddess in her full glory. She was a young woman teetering on the precarious edge of adolescence and adulthood. A many hued cloak of leaves, almost like a peacock's tail, preserved her modesty.
Her presence was overwhelming. The boy seemed to stand for an eternity trying to muster the courage to speak... questions burned in his mind.
Ewan awoke with a start. The memory of the dream lingered on the very periphery of his consciousness. He remembered playing a game with Aliki and motherly figure. There was the Now he was back inside the church of bamboo and woven grass. It was dark save for a dim flame near the stone altar. The masked boy was already awake.
"I hardly remember anything. We were playing a game I think..." Ewan rose groggily and looked around. "I think I saw her. What did she say? Did she have any answers about my spell?"
Aliki rushes over and hugs Ewan. "I'm glad you're alright!" Letting go of Ewan, the young prophet takes his mask off to reveal a large grin. "We went on a bit of an adventure, all will be figured out in time, but currently our great mother has given you permission to stay here! Hopefully your presence will be beneficial for both you and the Children of Zyra!" Extending his hand out, Aliki's youthful smile does not falter. "May I be the first to officially welcome you here!"
"Thanks," Ewan took the older boys hand and offered a smile. Without the mask he looked less a priest and more an ordinary child.
"I didn't expect to be staying here... but it's for the best I think." If he was to settle down anywhere it might as well be with a tribe of children who wanted his condition; at least he wouldn't outlive them. "But that's it? Are there any rules to follow? Do I get a place to live?"
The two strolled outside where Zyra's Haven was illuminated only by torchlight and the fading orange of a sunset. The entire village was there: from scrawny children in grass skirts, to lithe youths covered in bodypaint and totems; not a single wrinkled face among them. They were all smiles.
Ewan out like a sore thumb in his finery, amidst the jungle tribe. The boy gulped and looked hesitantly toward Aliki. He'd been on the road a while, but if he stayed he wouldn't see the comforts of Serendipity ever again... Life out here was hard enough already, let alone with a tribe of children.
The boy was lead forth into the celebration...