THE TIME COMES

[MunaZaldrizoti 5766]

Spoiler

 

 

- THE TIME COMES -

 

 

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The great ordeals of the last saint's day had weighed heavily upon Ioanna's mind as she laid upon her bed, studying those oaken beams that held up the roofing high above her head. Valdev had only recently been relieved of it's snowfall, yet the air still seemed chilled and unnerving. So unlike her homeland in Ba'as, she often was heard to remark, but she truly felt it now. It was enough to keep her awake all through the night, yet she felt the heaviness of her eyelids more and more. The Rhenyari pictured the realm upon the moon, spoken about in a frenzy by a solemn princess, seeing glinting spires of marble and lights as bright as the stars they were made to rival. Her mind's eye drifted off, spiraling into imagination...

When her eyes opened again, she was alone still, but in another place entirely. A darkened hall, one she had not seen in her dreams since she was a child. The dreams of another child, from a past life she no longer dared to acknowledge. It was lined with statues and portraits, bearing the faces of stern men and severe women. Patriarchs and matriarchs long since dead, but kept alive in this secret place. Footfalls called her gaze forth, the figure of man slowly approaching her from the shadows. His hair was dark and cropped at the neck, with blue-grey eyes that looked both lively and sad all at once. A slim crown sat upon his head, matching his white-gold robes.

 

"You have much more to do, my ven. You dishonor yourself by allowing these others to hold you back. To dishonor you..." The man's voice echoed around her, vibrating in her eardrums. A woman met him at his right side. She was crooked of nose, with a great plumed hat and a stiffened crimson coat. This fearsome lady met Ioanna with more contempt.

"You will amount to nothing if you don't break free of these shackles you place upon yourself. These ridiculous notions of true love and family. You have a family already...or do you forget that as you forgot everything else?" Those statues that seemed to stretch endlessly behind them turned their stone-carved heads, cracking and splitting in their haste to observe Ioanna. All at once, they began to jeer and mock her, laughing and chuckling.

Finally, looming over that first pair of critics, a shadowy figure stood tall and mighty. All Ioanna could make out was a singular eye, red and menacing. "GOD himself heralded your birth, child. You would have him be wrong? You would disgrace his gift, your blood?" The hall itself began to quake. "THE TIME COMES. YOU MUST MEET YOUR DESTINY!" Her ancestors all wailed with horror and amusement and frustration, leaving Ioanna to scream herself amidst the tangle.

 

The woman jolted awake in her bed, a sheen of sweat atop her pallid brow. It took a moment for her to steady her breath, to cease her hands from shaking. Ioanna did not sleep through the rest of the night that followed.

 

 

In the morning, as the sunrise crept over the horizon and touched the city walls with its first glimpses of light, a small box was delivered to the barracks that belonged to the Brotherhood of Saint Karl. A simple note, clearly written, labeled the name of its intended recipient:

 

"TO THE LORD MARSHAL"

 

Ioanna steeled herself. She would be no man's fool. Her fate and destiny were still yet to be written. It was all within her to see it to fruition.

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Spoiler

Just some writing related to the last few days of roleplay! I've enjoyed my time thus far being back in Haense and developing this character's story further!