#// ash still cringes at the word arcane because of them //

[ashassiin]

the circus that raised her was actually a cover for a ✨️ smuggling operation ✨️ that toured the dragon coast, mainly, the act allowing them to move products from town to town with relative ease. ash was a baby rogue since she could walk <3 though her part was mostly to do her tightrope act and do it well to keep folks distracted

[scarletknightreterns]

The lesson was learned very swiftly.

A lesson that could be accounted for across the age, across vast realms, reaching every sort of ear-- from pointed and rounded, small and large, to the most hideous and curved slope of the mythic.

Long ago, a beast bound up in chains made of enchanted armor, was beaten day and night, slighted for a grievous but innocent mistake done on the creature's part, the punishment being eternal torment. Heaving massive as a small mountain, her girth concaved tunnels and broke them apart. Attached to her arms were hands and talons which shredded up the earth down to the core within the struggle, lava bleeding through the wounded land underfoot. Lengthily and whip-like, her tail thrashed in the restraints pinning it nigh fruitlessly to the crust of the realm's carpet, strong enough to knock over the Tree of Life itself.

Exactly on the 365th day of imprisonment, her size had decreased gradually, still monstrous as a castle, but admits the crater of her former glory, she was nothing but a weeping animal. Under the burning lash of whips marking her flesh, and the seething whispers of magics which tormented her heart and mind, it was on that day in which her first cream was heard by the world, unrestrained, and bringing something else which solidified the very reason with perpetual fear of her came of existence.

It had happened in a fraction of a second, the large pins on either side of the muzzle clamped down upon the beasts' snout had loosened from the year's worth of struggling, snapping open in the wake of her high-pitched scream as another rib-bone was snapped and forced out of her flesh by the claws of sorcery, another waterfall of lava hence where the bone pierced through hide. Out of that widened maw came a scream of death which none would recognize.

Because non would live to tell the tale.

The first wail affected those tormenting her, snapping their hearts and snatching their wailing souls. The first thousand died at her call. The second was a hiss, one that stretched further, churning the lands into ash, the vegetation smoldering even if the sun's kiss was gentle. And the third which left her throat was a roar they which pierced the heart of the earth, and the land began to seldom rot; everything decayed at a rate faster then the years could count, the earth became baren, the waterways dried up, the sun died in the sky as it blackened, and the realm became a realm of souls, the magma turned green and gangly, they being the only light illuminating the lands as they reshaped in it's ethereal light.

This place once a prison became a whole new sort of prison, for the tormented. There she remained locked, the very--'

No more. Her eyes couldn't take any more then what they had, closing the book with a tremble behind the motion. Shoulders shivered and quaked even after the book had returned the kind hand outstretched to take it back in it's possession. Even thought her eyes remained on the floor, her finger tracing over the burnt and torn scars resembling that of symbols over her shoulder and down the length of her arm, the archangel gazed down upon her with no short amount of sympathy in his creamy eyes. Little care remained in Cinder's beating heart if he judged her for feeling so terribly for the beats told within the script of the leather chronicle. It had deserved it, right? Treason was crime deserving of such punishment, right….?

Right…?

No, deep down, she remained unconvinced. Something was wrong with those pages, something just… didn't make sense, something was WRONG. Upon second though, why was she even feeling this way at all, like she'd just experienced a horrific scene even the Creator would cringe at?

"I am certain that wasn't the worst the Ancient one had been fated to deal with," with graceful sweeps of his looming wings, Azrael glided back up over towards the massive bookshelf of his library practically built out of the entire spire-like structure. Up and up could she gaze, yet never see an end in sight, only a few angels here and there, going about their way organizing, becoming mere dots the further up the spiral and levels. Her uncle had a very impressive collection of books, it rivaled even that of Hell's collection even if about just as grand. But the Depths were known for their…. Hoarding-- many of the books there were….. Useless.

"What do you…"

"Treason is a crime yes," the archangel began, momentarily glancing down at her before returning to the organizing of his many books, arcane pulsing through the air, aiding him in the task. "But it was a mistake. She'd been betrayed by those whom she trusted and turned against those who trusted her, against the very souls she swore to protect. If  say could have been said, I would have liked to have seen her freed in a different way…"

Always so kind, he was. She wasn't certain how it made her feel-- either relieved, or disgusted. His ridiculously long robes swished gracefully as his wings carried him over to a different spot, hardly a flap given. When he'd shown such kindness to her with very little judgment towards the blood on her hands, she wondered if he was the one insane here-- all the other angels had no trouble wishing for her head on a pike… "You're… pretty ancient, Uncle, did you ever get to meet, or even see this creature?" The words slipped out of her mouth before she could catch and swallow them back down.

This garnered his attention enough that the angle straight up stopped his organizing, turning swiftly around to face his niece fully, his gaze hardened in his seriousness just so slightly enough to be prominent, yet still kindness was the dominating force within his soul. "I have, yes. As well as your mother."