#taûryx || bandit prince

[mantleoflight]

That moment Dad [TM] finds out you finally lost the fight to curiosity clicked the Hot Dudes In Your Area clickbait link.

Ehkos:

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

[pawnshopsouls]

Darrix, newly minted Hive Bishop

//As the Hive Bishop, Taûryx, ends their ritual, Darrix’ transformation is revealed!

//Inspired by @bandit-prince/ @tiny-titan-exo ‘s Season of the Witch fanfiction — hope ya like it busy!!

[mantleoflight]

Whisper hummed and looked over at the door. Somewhere nice and quiet. Well, that ruled the gardens out. Guardians poured in through the gardens and the canal all the time, fighting hive and scorn and whatever else was there. But the tooth-shelled ghost didn’t want to stay indoors either.

“How about the courtyard?” she suggested, looking back at Zazia as she floated back toward the door. “I know there’s several nice ones kept pretty safe from the battles outside.”

She paused and eyed Taûryx and her acolyte, Ehkos giving her a narrow-eyed scowl, raising Whisper’s hackles before the ghost slipped past the door.

“So,” Whisper said, trying not to think about the bad air between Ehkos and her. “What kind of stuff do you like? Flowers, rocks, letters, purple fruit that hangs on trees?” She gave a little chuckle and looked back at Zazia.

Whisper wasn't shy about wandering from her acolyte. In fact, she was probably more at ease away from them than she was with them—not something very ghost-like to do. Still, despite her fearsome demeanor towards passing Hive, Whisper was still curious about the ghost so often well hidden in their Bishop's folds.

Careful to keep her distance, she signaled the other hive ghost. "You look like you could use a walk," she communicated, keeping an eye on the Bishop. "Care to join me?" — @mantleoflight

A flicker of a green eye appears from the back of the Bishop’s shoulder pads, only to disappear again. There’s a long pause, before a response is made. “I..could do with a break..”

Taûryx doesn’t react as his Ghost parts with his cloak, but for a brief moment his eyes dart to follow the movement.

The Ghost’s shell was badly damaged. It was cracked down the middle, and several of the little appendages on the shell were cracked and broken off, but she seems happy as she approaches Whisper. “I’m called Zazia.”

[mantleoflight]

//OK! SO! I'm doing a lot better and am coming off Hiatus to Semi-hiatus and will be putting asks and threads in the queue. I'm in a much better head space and have been absolutely buzzing on ideas inspired by this season's content.

//Namely extensions of Echo's Hive!AU in which she tries to talk terms with Savathun and ends up as one of her Oubliette experiments instead.

1. Weapon of Sorrow

//The first is "Weapon of Sorrow" au in which Echo is discovered/revealed after being defeated by a trio of guardians and is brought back for examination. It runs on the idea that Hive Magic is meant for infecting and transforming living biological beings, not inorganic life forms like Exos and Ghosts. Yet it still affects inorganic materials, as seen in the Weapons of Sorrow. //This also runs on my HC that all Exos have Alkahest running in their bodies, maintaining their minds and humanity while also adding a biological component to their beings, albeit minimally. //Thus, when Echo is retrieved and her chitin (courtesy of @bandit-prince's hive OC, Taûryx) is removed, her main body is revealed to have been heavily modified by the terraforming ability of the hivified Alkahest (modified/refined radiolaria, IE the exo's blood/only biological component). Where once was the sleek, human-like model of Clovis Bray's exo design, now lay something looking like it was made of knives and bone, much like the Necrochasm and Osteo Striga. //Naturally, Echo's ghost, Whisper, beseeches the Vanguard for help in bringing Echo back as a guardian and cleansing her of the Hive magic Savathun and Taûryx used on her. With some help, they are eventually successful in cleansing and restoring Echo, yet she still feels some effects of being an exo acolyte. This AU actually extends to another AU, a "Bad Timeline" au that combines "Weapon of Sorrow" and "Ties of Binding" which will be detailed in a section below.

2. Bad Timeline AU

//In this second au, "Bad Timeline" mixes the WoS and TtB verses with one of the Bad Timelines where the Exo Stranger came from. In it, Echo becomes her "Weapon of Sorrow" self by design, submitting herself to Hive!Eris Morn as a way to get close to her and Savathun. She does this in order to find the Hive God ritual and use it herself. In this, she would try to become a rival to Eris in the pantheon of hive gods and give the remaining guardians not completely lost to the darkness, a chance at retaking their world with or without the Traveler. //This would be tricky though, since she'd know that she'd need a Worm in the pantheon to do this. So she gets the only one she could find on hand: the one inside the YW's gun. Using different magics, including the Essence Transfer magic utilized in the Scarlet Keep, Echo speak with Xol, contending with him that he was the weakest of his pantheon because he didn't live up to his name. Because up to that point, he hadn't been the Will of thousands, only the will of one. But if he made a deal with her, she would make him the will of thousands, and his tithe would be greater than had ever been for him. //So through this, she becomes Ehkos Ahnan, Hive diety of Ties and Binding, taking strength from bonds between her brood (the guardians who accept her offer). Her first act of binding was binding Xol to his physical form, remaking him and gaining strength from the bonds of love, hate, rivalry, etc. made with and extended to her by other sentient beings. To other's surprise though, she had not relinquished the Light, only hidden it until the time to reveal it came. //Now the Deep and Sky battle within her as she runs against the clock, seeking to become the one Blade willing to carve its place in the universe and allow to shelter beneath her in exchange for obedience to her terms and tithes of Light and violence in defense of their new kingdom.

//We are the ever-grasping hands. Those who accept us are bound to us by our Mercy. We are the ever-shaping truth! Those who reject us are cut down by our blades and bonds! For Mercy can only be given by those Strong enough to carve it from the hands of their enemies! And those whom you gain and bring to me by Mercy are yours by right of Submission. Through this bond, they must tithe and prove themselves worthy of your efforts, your protection, and their place in the world. As well, you must prove yourself worthy to keep them! Carve their place into the chasm that is your domain, claim, and grow! Prove yourselves worthy to be called mine! Aiat!"

3. Ties that Bind

//The second AU is set after her Hive verse in which she isn't made into a Weapon of Sorrow but is still discovered and recovered from being an Acolyte. After providing all the information she has and being aided by Eris in her recovery (specifically during and after Season of the Haunted), Echo goes on as usual during the rest of the year. //However, in hearing the call to aid to help Eris with Immaru, Echo defies strong recommendations of her leaving the situation alone and goes to aid Eris. Ikora has strong reservations about letting Echo continue to aid Eris, but Echo insists that with her experience the previous year in the Hive, she would be the best suited to help Eris in her current endeavors. Ikora's fears prove founded as Echo begins to slip into her old Acolyte patterns as she fights and tithes to Eris. //However, despite their efforts and how fruitful they've been, Echo's discovery of Ahsa's involvement puts a huge damper on her efforts. She knows the corrosive power of hive magic and fears they can't last much longer without hurting, or worse, killing Eris and Ahsa. Thus she begins to prepare a secondary plan, which in reality is a terrible idea but what else can she do when good ideas don’t show themselves? //So she contacts an "old friend", and whether by bonding with him as a Darkness Risen ( @aurea-fide) or raising his essence from the weapon of his own destruction, she calls on the weakest of worms with an assertion that he was weak because he hasn't lived up to his name, and a promise that if he abides this new contract with her, he will become that which he claimed to be: the will of thousands instead of the will of one. //In this line of action, she intends to pick up where Eris left off and join the hive pantheon -- not as villain or antagonist to humanity, but as a paracausal advocate and contender against greater powers. //"If the Traveler is the Gardener then I am its guard, for I know by right, all who are born in this universe have a place in it. If this is a garden, then I will tend it and carve a place for all things in this universe.”

Addendum to Ties that Bind is that it would be a precautionary plan. One that is likely discovered and not acted upon since Eris seems to have things well in hand. Seasonally, this is Eris’s journey and our goth girl deserves some good things. UuU

Echo: “and this is why Eris is doing this. Because she won’t fall to the temptation of the Deep like I would. She’s the Stronger Truth, a true light in the blanketing dark. A friend, a protector, a guardian. aiat.”

[mantleoflight]

Taûryx, Devoted of Oryx, Whisper of the Horde; Light-Bearing Hive Bishop

@bandit-prince

[mantleoflight]

“Ehkos.” Taûryx’s voice is harsh, though not chastising as it normally was. In one hand is held a runed shield, and in the other a shredder. “Come here, I wish to try something.”

Ehkos perked up at the summons and hurried to her mentor’s side. Her curiosity grew when she saw the shield and shredder. We’re they for her? Or something Taûryx wanted to test against her?

“What are we trying?” She asked, her eyes shining as she examined the shield. “Are we testing the shield?”

[mantleoflight]

Both Ehkos and Whisper watched Zazia shiver and descend, the acolyte looking at her ghost questioningly before looking back at her teacher’s ghost. Why didn’t she resurrect him? Was she damaged? Had they inadvertently struck her in the fight? Once again the acolyte was compelled and moved a hand toward the ghost and her mentor, when a knight peeked in and the little ghost zipped in panic to raise the Bishop.

Ehos stared a moment as her mentor caught their breath. They couldn’t help but beam, pleased with Taûryx’s compliment, but it’s Shrike who speaks.

“Of course she does,” Shrike replied, almost rolling her eye. “She was made for fighting. Glaives especially.”

Ehkos turned and looked quizzically at her ghost. “How do you know this?”

Shrike gave her a look. “Because you’ve been fighting since before you drew your first breath and between bows and glaives, glaives were your favorite.”

Ehkos canted her head. “Huh,” she murmured and looked back to Taûryx and their ghost.

“I’m glad I excelled!” She said returning the grin. “You excelled too! Had I not had my glaive, my bones would have been dust! But still, I… don’t remember a time I was so excited after a fight. May we do this more often? Fight to first fall and hone what skills are still dull?”

The timidness was gone, swept away by after-battle exhilaration. But as she went, she paused and spotted Zazia and canted her head. “Sir, is your ghost well? She looked injured when she went to revive you.”

It had been several days since Taûryx had lashed out at Ehkos, and they had been keeping their distance from their student. But eventually, the approach.

“Come, I’d like to show you something.”

The risen acolyte looked up from her studies, resting a water slate on her lap that she’d been using to practice runes in her effort to memorize the language of her people.

She shrank a bit as her teacher came, now ever aware of the berth of space well earned from their last conflict. She still had a faint mark from where her luminous facial chitin had been cracked and not allowed to be healed by her ghost. She wore it as a reminder to herself not to trespass in the affairs of others—and just what would happen if you did.

Hearing Taûryx’s words, Ehkos set the slate aside and stood to follow, careful to stand apart from her teacher. She gazed up at them and gave a silent nod, not quite ready to speak.

[mantleoflight]

Ehkos listened as Taûryx spoke, thinking on his theory as she stroked the worm in her arms. “Well, it makes sense,” she murmured, gazing down at the worm. “If the power of the pact dilutes the farther away from the original pact-makers, then it makes sense that only the original three and their immediate family would have godly powers.”

Whisper gave a short chuckle and turned her gaze to the Bishop. If a pact with a worm god was all they needed, then her bearer had a leg up on all of them. ‘Oh if you only knew about Xol,’ she thought and paused, as a blue glimmer caught her eye. The ghost canted herself, as if tilting her head at the ghost as it dove into the sling.

Meanwhile Ehkos hummed and stroked the worm thoughtfully. “Have you ever encountered a worm god, Taûryx?” she asked, looking up at him curiously.

Whisper glanced over at Ehkos and gave a soft scoff. “You have,” she muttered and drifted back as Ehkos jerked her head up

“What?” She asked, looking at her ghost. Whisper looked at her and shrugged her she’ll like someone who hadn’t said a thing.

Ehkos has been dutiful in her studies, seeking all the knowledge she can from the vast archives available to her. But at the moment, she seems to have secluded herself in an unused room and mapped out all she's learned upon its walls. Circles, lines, and runs cover the walls. Was it a diagram? Blueprints? Architecture?

The Acolyte paused in her work and glanced back. If she weren't covered in armor and a cloak, she might've paled. Busted. Away from her studies of history and combat, filtering about with theories and designs. An attempt at understanding her matron's godhood.

"Hello Taûryx," she said, watching him closely. "You... have another lesson for me?" — @mantleoflight

The Bishop had been leaned against a wall, arms crossed as they had watched their young protégé working on..a map? Those green eyes were veiled with a black mourning fabric, carefully and diligently pinned back around the large, protruding horns. But the black veil did little to dim the fierce, soulfire green of those eyes.

“No.” They answer, standing upright, and approaching Ehkos. “I have no lessons for now. But I am deeply curious as to what you have here. I don’t think I’ve seen it before.”

[mantleoflight]

Ehkos followed after Taûryx, listening as they walked. She glanced around the beautiful courtyard, admiring the contrast of its alabaster structures against the blossoming blood red leaves. Her gaze fell on the well and the lily pads, idly recalling a memory of a lucent moth that once drifted across on one of them. The young acolyte thought about taking a seat on the rim, but hearing her teacher’s words, glanced up at him with interest.

“You can do that?” she asked, perking up. “How?”

Ehkos continued watching him as he spoke and put a hand on her chest. Felt like being tethered... but good?

“Like... a ghost?” she asked, thinking about her currently absent ghost and the felling she had when she—it was present.

With an odd expression on her face, the young lightbearing acolyte looked at herself and frowned (as best as a hive could).

"Taûryx?" she asked, looking up at her teacher. "Forgive me if this is inappropriate to ask but does your worm.... speak to you?"

There’s a long moment of silence, and for the briefest second, the Bishop’s claws tense into the the side of the table they were leaning on.

“Yes, typically they speak often. No Hive is truly ever alone, because they have their Worm with them.” A hand brushes their chest absently. “Though..mine has not spoken to me since I was revived.” A low grumble leaves them, but shaking their head Taûryx refocuses. “Why? Are you also receiving silence?”

[mantleoflight]

Ehkos watched Taûryx handled the knife, the black surface of its blade shimmering with threads of void-light that rippled like refracted light on oil. The handle was wrapped leather, tightly bound and oiled, while the carvings on its sheath glinted ever so slightly with a bit of infused light. She was proud of this gift. Shrike had helped her craft it, giving direction as well as adding a bit of void light herself, but this had been her effort—her thanks to her teacher.

Next, she watched them handle her gift for Zazia. This, to her regret, was not so much a commemoration but an apology. Shrike had insisted that Zazia’s shell was broken before the battle, but Ehkos had seen so little of her teacher’s ghost to be reassured that it was not her knives that damaged and frightened the little ghost.

Thus, she’d done her best to remake the broken shell as accurately as possible. It was small and delicate, based on the shells of the hive ghosts around her and crafted with utmost care. Care of one’s ghost was the care of one’s soul after all—at least that was how Ehkos was coming to see it. And the harming of another’s ghost? Especially that of a friend and ally? No, such thing had to be righted.

At Taûryx’s touch, the acolyte straightened and beamed up at their teacher.

Worn with pride! Her teacher was proud of her gifts!

Eyes gleaming with bridled joy, Ehkos gave Taûryx a little bow and stood a little taller, filled with the knowledge of her teacher’s pride.

Uncertain but determined, Ehkos approached Taûryx and bowed her head as she held up an offering for him. It was two items, a box containing a newly-made ghost shell, and a curved knife inside a lightly scrimshawed, stone-coral sheath. Symbols of Void and Solar can be seen on either side of the sheath. A commemoration gift it seems.

Ehkos swallowed and glanced up. "I.. wanted to commemorate our battle in the Temple of Oryx. It... may not be worth much to commemorate, but it was worth much to me."

For a long moment the Bishop says nothing. And then those long talons graze against the offer sheath, almost lovingly. As gently as they could, they pick it up, unsheathing it and examining the blade. Those soulfire green eyes shimmer for a moment, the flame and fury dimming, if only for a moment.

The Knife that Oryx had given them always hung at their hip. It was a reminder of a promise, the promise that one day Oryx would Take Tauryx, and give them a new name and a new blade and a new purpose. But it never happened. It..it never would, happen.

Talons slice through the band holding it to their waist, and they do not watch it as it falls. It clatters, the obsidian blade shattering against the floor with a spark of blue flame, and a whisper, a whisper of..thanks.

Carefully, with dutiful hands the Bishop ties the new blade to their waist, allowing it to hang in plain view, in front of their robes, not tucked between the folds. They take the box next, opening it and examining the shell. It was oddly delicate, but yet..

They do not put it on their ghost, not yet, anyways. Instead, it is placed inside the maw of the beast, a safe place for valuable items.

The horned head bows, and for a moment they consider doing something rash, something no good bishop would ever do. They consider briefly, tithing to the young acolyte, sharing their power, their experience with her, but they do not. Not yet.

A clawed hand reaches out and touches Ehkos shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze. “I will wear them with pride.”

[mantleoflight]

Ehkos ducked and bobbed, advancing with her glaive. She was aware of things, but all thoughts beyond the battle was pushed to the side: all that mattered was living, the fight was all that existed. You died here or you lived to fight again. It was just like the day she first awoke—fight to breath, or lay down and die and she wasn’t going to lay down and die.

So she pressed on, stabbing at her teacher as their sword swiped inches from her head, deflecting and parrying her attacks. Taûryx was a great swordsman but even swords couldn’t make up for the reach of the glaive’s blade.

However, the acolyte’s advanced stopped when she saw the glow of purple shining around the Bishop. A super! She was too close—he’d kill her in a single melee!

With a jolt, she leaped back, her own light blazing inside as she summoned her own super. If she could hit him first—if she could hit him before he could hit her! Body shining with golden Solar energy, Ehkos flung her arms out, five spinning solar knives rising behind her. With the glaive held in one hand, Ehkos lifted her other hand and flung the knives towards her wounded teacher.

A split second after, she felt the powerful shield of Void Light connect, crushing her torso before and everything went dark in a flash of purple sparks.

It had been several days since Taûryx had lashed out at Ehkos, and they had been keeping their distance from their student. But eventually, the approach.

“Come, I’d like to show you something.”

The risen acolyte looked up from her studies, resting a water slate on her lap that she’d been using to practice runes in her effort to memorize the language of her people.

She shrank a bit as her teacher came, now ever aware of the berth of space well earned from their last conflict. She still had a faint mark from where her luminous facial chitin had been cracked and not allowed to be healed by her ghost. She wore it as a reminder to herself not to trespass in the affairs of others—and just what would happen if you did.

Hearing Taûryx’s words, Ehkos set the slate aside and stood to follow, careful to stand apart from her teacher. She gazed up at them and gave a silent nod, not quite ready to speak.

[mantleoflight]

Ehkos saw Taûryx charge and swore. If she’d had a Knight’s sword, she would have drawn it. Even better, if she’d had one of the Guardians’ glaives, she would have drawn that and met Taûryx mid charge. But she didn’t and a charge from a knight, let alone a shielded Bishop, would end her right there and her light-powered dodge hadn’t cooled down yet! Even if she tried, couldn’t move fast enough to escape the charge! She was going to—

“GLAIVE!”

“What?” Ehkos asked in stunned bewilderment. The shout of her ghost startled her, jerking her from her thought paralysis as a long, shining gold and black glaive was transmatted into her hands.

“Don’t ask!” Shrike shouted, barking at her like a swords master, “Just fight!”

Latching on to that order, Ehkos threw her Splinter aside and grasped the glaive with both hands. Yes, this felt good. This felt familiar. She knew what to do with this! With a howling war cry, the acolyte charged forward. She couldn’t escape the charge and being a mix of Knight and Wizard, Taûryx was certainly stronger than she was. But with a glaive in her hands, she had no fear. One of them was going to cut down the other and she wasn’t about let him cut her first.

It had been several days since Taûryx had lashed out at Ehkos, and they had been keeping their distance from their student. But eventually, the approach.

“Come, I’d like to show you something.”

The risen acolyte looked up from her studies, resting a water slate on her lap that she'd been using to practice runes in her effort to memorize the language of her people.

She shrank a bit as her teacher came, now ever aware of the berth of space well earned from their last conflict. She still had a faint mark from where her luminous facial chitin had been cracked and not allowed to be healed by her ghost. She wore it as a reminder to herself not to trespass in the affairs of others—and just what would happen if you did.

Hearing Taûryx's words, Ehkos set the slate aside and stood to follow, careful to stand apart from her teacher. She gazed up at them and gave a silent nod, not quite ready to speak.

[mantleoflight]

Ehkos followed silently, glancing about as the familiar scene of the Gardens passed by. If she were honest, the Gardens were her favorite place in all of Savathun's domain. Peaceful, beautiful, serene when Guardians weren't breaking into it. Whisper drifted by her head, watching everything like a hawk. Ehkos knew she'd been on edge since Taûryx struck her, eyeing every hive as if it were going to jump at her. Maybe they would...

Still, she followed her teacher, noting each turn and twist they took to the new building—one that she both did and didn't recognize. She paused, gazing up at it before following her teacher inside. The young Acolyte looked about, feeling two responses in her heart. One of knowing this place, and the other of seeing its magnificence for the first time.

She paused behind her teacher as they sat down, and listened. Was Taûryx... apologizing? She didn't know but with a glance at her ghost, Whisper seemed as surprised as she was, though not as touched. Truthfully... the bishop's admission was healing and a hint of their frayed trust began to return. When things were better, she knew they deserved an apology in return.

With a glance at Taûryx, Ehkos stepped lightly around the great room, her fingertips brushing gently against the wall. It all felt so familiar—the walls, the floor, the feeling of secrets left by Savathun for her to find...

"I've been here before," Ehkos murmured, looking up at the place. "I know I haven't but... I feel like I've been here before."

'You have,' Whisper thought but wasn't about to say that in front of Taûryx.

It had been several days since Taûryx had lashed out at Ehkos, and they had been keeping their distance from their student. But eventually, the approach.

“Come, I’d like to show you something.”

The risen acolyte looked up from her studies, resting a water slate on her lap that she'd been using to practice runes in her effort to memorize the language of her people.

She shrank a bit as her teacher came, now ever aware of the berth of space well earned from their last conflict. She still had a faint mark from where her luminous facial chitin had been cracked and not allowed to be healed by her ghost. She wore it as a reminder to herself not to trespass in the affairs of others—and just what would happen if you did.

Hearing Taûryx's words, Ehkos set the slate aside and stood to follow, careful to stand apart from her teacher. She gazed up at them and gave a silent nod, not quite ready to speak.

[mantleoflight]

dEhkos clenched her teeth slightly as her mentor took a breath. How little she know... She always knew so little, but that wasn’t her fault! How could she when no other light bearer had memories of before! Even Savathun had to utilize the guardian’s “help” to regain memories of her past life! She couldn’t be blamed for not knowing!

She shook off the irritated thoughts and watched as the Bishop withdrew a small worm from its sling. It was so small in comparison to the world around it, hardly longer than her forearm. How curious that something so small could make someone like Savathun so powerful, so great in her own domain. Her thoughts were interrupted as Taûryx slipped the worm into her arms, giving the Acolyte a start. Part of her recoiled, disgust and terror striking at her bones. But the rest of her quickly stifled it. Why should she be afraid? Why should she fear that which granted her kindred power and strength? Godhood, if they so endured?

She felt her ghost tense as it let out a soft, digital click sound, eye fixed on her and the worm. The ghost hadn’t spoken a word since their last fight with another ghost. In truth, it seemed to become more thrall than ghost with each passing day, speaking in hisses, clicks, and shrieks. It adapted quickly, learning the guttural speech of their species. Almost enough to be fluent, almost. She could think of a few others who could learn lessons from her ghost. Not that she would ever tell them. But for them to be rude enough to click a sound of warning at a worm... Unacceptable.

“Do not,” Ehkos growled at her ghost, giving it a stern glare. “The worm is not going to hurt you.” The ghost matched her glare at her assertion and she straightened defiantly, cradling the worm as a human would an infant. Almost to spite the ghost, she pet the creature gently, almost soothingly, before turning her attention back to Taûryx, away from the hot, piercing glare from behind the ghost’s saw-toothed shell.

“Would we be able to do such?” she asked and then canted her head at her teachers words. “.... May I hear your theories?”

Ehkos has been dutiful in her studies, seeking all the knowledge she can from the vast archives available to her. But at the moment, she seems to have secluded herself in an unused room and mapped out all she's learned upon its walls. Circles, lines, and runs cover the walls. Was it a diagram? Blueprints? Architecture?

The Acolyte paused in her work and glanced back. If she weren't covered in armor and a cloak, she might've paled. Busted. Away from her studies of history and combat, filtering about with theories and designs. An attempt at understanding her matron's godhood.

"Hello Taûryx," she said, watching him closely. "You... have another lesson for me?" — @mantleoflight

The Bishop had been leaned against a wall, arms crossed as they had watched their young protégé working on..a map? Those green eyes were veiled with a black mourning fabric, carefully and diligently pinned back around the large, protruding horns. But the black veil did little to dim the fierce, soulfire green of those eyes.

“No.” They answer, standing upright, and approaching Ehkos. “I have no lessons for now. But I am deeply curious as to what you have here. I don’t think I’ve seen it before.”

[mantleoflight]

The light bearing Acolyte watched as their mentor approached, glancing from them to her map of thoughts. Things made more sense and fit together better when she could see them, and putting them down on paper or, in this case, on a wall, was much easier than sorting them through her mind alone.

“It’s a map... of what I’ve learned so far,” she said, gesturing to the wall. “I wanted to record it or organize it, but these are my studies, or what I understand of them.”

She raised a hand and tapped each branch, each bubble, each line of hive runes she’d managed to scribble down. “This is what I’ve learned of Sword logic, how it affects us and the world we occupy, The paracausal forces connected with it, the worm magic connected to it, the ascendant realm and throne worlds—even what knowledge we have on the Guardians.”

She then paused as she reached a line that lead to a dead end bubble. “But this... I haven’t been able to figure out.” she said, tapping the empty mind-map bubble. Lines of text trail below it, but it does not connect to any other. She paused and looked to Taûryx. “I.. don’t know how to address Savathun when speaking of her, but this... her status... her place in ascendancy... how did she attain it? What makes it up? If it is through sword logic then the guardians themselves must be able to ascend as she with how many they kill, yes? Then why don’t they? Why don’t they ascend and become like or greater than their Traveler? If godhood is attained through adherence to sword logic, are we then able to attain it if we prove ourselves worthy?”

Ehkos has been dutiful in her studies, seeking all the knowledge she can from the vast archives available to her. But at the moment, she seems to have secluded herself in an unused room and mapped out all she's learned upon its walls. Circles, lines, and runs cover the walls. Was it a diagram? Blueprints? Architecture?

The Acolyte paused in her work and glanced back. If she weren't covered in armor and a cloak, she might've paled. Busted. Away from her studies of history and combat, filtering about with theories and designs. An attempt at understanding her matron's godhood.

"Hello Taûryx," she said, watching him closely. "You... have another lesson for me?" — @mantleoflight

The Bishop had been leaned against a wall, arms crossed as they had watched their young protégé working on..a map? Those green eyes were veiled with a black mourning fabric, carefully and diligently pinned back around the large, protruding horns. But the black veil did little to dim the fierce, soulfire green of those eyes.

“No.” They answer, standing upright, and approaching Ehkos. “I have no lessons for now. But I am deeply curious as to what you have here. I don’t think I’ve seen it before.”

[mantleoflight]

Ehkos tucked her chin, looking down at herself before giving a slow nod.

“I haven’t heard my worm since being risen,” she admitted, glancing at a corner as if this fact were a mark of shame. “If I ever heard it, it was before I can remember, so... I’m not sure.”

She then paused, folding her arms across her chest as she debated her next words. She had a fear—a deep, burning fear she wanted to address, but she didn’t want Taûryx to take part in that fear. It was connected to being a risen hive after all, as they both were.

“What did it sound like?” she asked finally, looking up at her teacher, “or feel like if that makes sense? Do you... remember?”

She’s beginning to hesitate now. Hesitation always preceded a question hard enough to bother her.

With an odd expression on her face, the young lightbearing acolyte looked at herself and frowned (as best as a hive could).

"Taûryx?" she asked, looking up at her teacher. "Forgive me if this is inappropriate to ask but does your worm.... speak to you?"

There’s a long moment of silence, and for the briefest second, the Bishop’s claws tense into the the side of the table they were leaning on.

“Yes, typically they speak often. No Hive is truly ever alone, because they have their Worm with them.” A hand brushes their chest absently. “Though..mine has not spoken to me since I was revived.” A low grumble leaves them, but shaking their head Taûryx refocuses. “Why? Are you also receiving silence?”