Beneath Resplendent Scales [#2] [Pact with Jevex]

[DizzyGrey 1229]

 

 

So’Flaaowni was nervous, and had to wonder for a bare moment if such a foreign sensation to her was just going to be something she always felt around Shamanic related matters. Surely not, right? She could hardly be the leader she knew she was if she was constantly fretting. Although there was always that old adage of courage and fear and yadda yadda.

If she had to guess, she would suppose the reason for her nerves here would be because this was only the second spirit walk she’d led… but that also her tribe members would be joining her. …And that, unlike to the Fox and Badger spirits, this wasn’t even to a spirit. It was toward a yet uncontacted Great Beast of the moon mother. One she knew about only ever in tales…

 

Still. There was work to do. Her people to bring forward from their stagnancy and decreptitude, and she wouldn’t leave it all up to her Achuatl. 

 

She wasn’t as good as her teacher, so their journey needed to be aided. That was fine, she’d already prepared for this. Ponderlot for the three of them. Double strength for the Tigrasi, hulking as he was. It wouldn’t do for him to fail to join them just because his body was so much bigger.

…Perhaps she should have less, tiny as she was. Something to look into later, past the usual pang of envy at the physical might of the warrior Kharajyr race. Focus. There were more important things.

 

The ponderlot carried them, once more, into that void she was beginning to recognise. To suspect was the between of Aevos and Khalenwyr, crossed at such incredible speed so as to seem devoid of light or shape. But once more they materialised, and once more it was within the dense jungles of their native homeland. The last time she had been here, it had been… dark. Illuminated only by fires, the trees crowding in as if waiting for the chance to murmur secrets untold for aeons to her.

Now they opened up. Now they stood tall and proud. Now the warmth and light of the sun dappled the trio as they arrived, and they could witness the village within the mountainous valley far below them. The mountains of said valley towered above them all, even at such distance, so tall they seemed to pierce the clouds and continue onward toward the heavens.

There was chatter. Of course there was. There was always chatter, snippets of Kharahatla between the trio. She gets stuck in a plant for a bit, but that wasn’t relevant she told herself. Simply a… test. Surely. And one she passed, even as her Tlatl retrieved her from the dastardly trap.

 

And a test it surely must have been as, during the momentary distraction, She appeared. Seen initially by her Tigrasi tribemate, he alone watched as the mountains shifted. As the range itself uncoiled, shrinking from that titanic size as The Quetzalcoatl unravelled from where she had rested, wrapped around them. 

 

Panic ran through the party like adrenaline through the body. Cold, anxious, and immediate as a pair of serpentine eyes larger than the three of them combined focused upon the spiritual travellers. The ground rumbled and shook and groaned as a face emerged from the earth before the village, and She spoke as he face hovered close.

 

“Kharajyr.” She stared down at them, a gaze so piercing that So’Flaaowni could barely move.

“Children of the Moon Mother… How we have lost much. How it fills my heart, to see your kind once more.”

 

Questions. She heard her name from her tribemate. Watched her Tlatl hiss at the titanic being, as Her presence bore into the three, standing protectively between the younger two. Act. She had to act, before whatever they came here for was lost.

 

“Thrak lat golm’u.” She states, as loud as she can, surprising even herself with the strength and confidence in her voice. A strength and confidence she did not feel. 

 

“Mau’ul krul, snag’izg.”

 

The titanic serpent, which upon closer inspection seemed to have the feathers and frills of a macaw along its head in much the same manner as a crown, narrows in upon her. 

 

“Mau’ul, snag lat?” She repeats.

“Amat’u?”

 

Confusion behind her. Her tribemates shrinking and conversing, asking So’Flaaowni questions she couldn’t answer right now. Demands to know what was being said. Useless words… except in the act of gathering Her attention. The Great Beast of Leadership and Wisdom turns her eyes upon her tribemates, and So’Flaaowni has a chance to regain her bearings and wit whilst the two conversed with the demigod. She barely even paid attention to what was being said, noting more the manner in which the very ground shook with the voice of The Quetzalcoatl.

 

She isn’t sure how long they converse, and only barely about what. Actions to be taken within their world, to bring forth the reignition of the Kharajyr. To claw back their noble history, to stand once more atop those of the world in their rightful place.

 

“...And it is through her.” 

 

Her. That meant So’Flaaowni. Attention again, no more time to think, to plan. The Cheetrah’s head snapped up to look toward that colossus, watching with wide eyes as such an alien intelligence bore into her.

 

“That my voice shall be heard.”

 

A nod from So’Flaaowni. It was all that was needed, as she then bowed her head with deference and worship toward the being. Alongside her, her tribemates did the same, lowering themselves in reverence as they swore their oaths of fealty to the Right Hand of Metztli.

 

The world darkened.

The world faded.

But as they awoke in Aevos once more?

Their devotion did not.

 

[Spirit Pact with Quetzalcoatl, Lesser of Jevex. 2/3 Spirit pacts]

 

Edited October 14, 2024 by DizzyGrey