#the real separating moment tho was when i went to the side summoning thing and mae showed up. i gasped a little ngl.

[orcelito]

I take back... SOME of my negativity about fe:engage. Now that I'm out of prolog hell I have decided the fun eclipses the annoyances. For now.

[pettyelves]

Death at the Crossroads

It was much too late for the children to be out and Eilonwy dragged her feet with her fist balled up in her mother’s coat. Further back, Karkah stared around though at least she kept pace. 

There was a chill in the air of Dead Sun that crept up the back of Eilithe’s neck and out in front of her. She froze, only for a moment to look sharply around. 

“Min’da..” Eilonwy muttered. “You gotta go, huh?”

“That’s right, Kal’allah,” Eilithe offered quietly, before she went to moving.

At home, Karkah went off to bed without a word, but Eilonwy clung to Eilithe’s side.It her nightgown, the girl laid with her head on Eilithe’s chest. Out on the sofa, Eilithe stared at the wall at the shadows that shifted around. Her summons was finally upon her, and not a night too soon-- the salve that guarded her weakened body was gone. Sleeping was not an option, and she would keep herself awake until the moment she had to leave.

“Min’da,” Eilonwy mumbled, her eyes blinking off sleep. “One story?”

“Which one?” 

“About the land and the sea.”

The girl had heard it thousands of times by now- a story of two lovers who were separated by tragedy and the moon’s kindness. It had been Eilithe’s own favorite as a child, and the very reason she’d chosen her daughter’s name. 

“And so, Mother Moon smiled upon Eilonwy as the woman mourned her dead husband, begging that Elune take her too so that they might never be parted. But instead, the Goddess saw fit to make his body land and her’s the sea- so that when the Moon rose and pulled in the tides, the lovers would embrace each night.”

Eilithe held Eilonwy a few moments after she’d gone to sleep, until she was ready. Leaving her daughter in her own bed, Eilithe did not make for the bedroom she shared with Kurel. Instead it was the front door and cut her hand open on the front porch.

“Gra’Dighet,” she spoke the name clearly, and with intent. “I bind you here, let no harm come to the souls in this house.” On the door she wrote a sigil in blood, a crude anchor for the beast within her shadow. The bundle of sticks and basket of stones in either hand, Eilithe made for the tree line. The last thing she did, before she disappeared from view was tie a red cloth to the trees she tucked into. If things went wrong, Velerodra would know what to do with that. 

“Hurry, hurry! You’ll be late.” 

The woman’s voice followed just behind Eilithe, as though it were in the trees itself. She dared not to look at it. It was pitch black nearly, the canopy covering any moonlight that might’ve leaked through, but she walked straight, without deviation. An hour, and she kept walking. Two then, but she still heard the stir of beasts. Three, and it was almost most quiet and at the half mark towards the fourth half, she stopped.

Stillness. No bird, nor cat, nor man, nothing but Eilithe and the ghost or devil within the trees. 

“Cast off your clothes and build His mark.”

If exhaustion wasn’t licking at her heels, Eilithe might’ve complied faster. Every pull of her leathers, buckle and snap was heavy. 

“Fight it. Fight the sleep. They will devour you out here alone. Make the circle. Hurry. Hurry!” 

Eilithe pressed her fingers into the hollow of her eye, groaning against the silence as she fought through the pain. Each stone was placed side to side in a perfect circle. Next she built up the ‘x’, twisting the sticks into the shape she wanted. 

By the time she was done, her creation was simple-- too simple, she might have thought as she stood there, nude and chilled in the night air. “Now, I burn it,” she said, to the voice that followed her. 

“It’s never so simple.” The voice answer, like a whisper to her ear. “Show no fear. Show no weakness. Call to him. Call to the Lord of Deals.” 

Like hands urging her to walk forward, Eilithe knew what to do. The crack of wood as she climbed onto the intersection in the center, balanced there carefully. Armed with a book of matches, she kept her eyes open.

“He comes to the lost- and to the desperate. But it is only the strong that walk away with deals. Do it. Do it now. Say his name.”

Eilithe struck a match and held it to light the untouched matches, sparking the entire thing. “Saakes of the Crossroads, Lord of Deals- show yourself to me.” The book fell to the wood beneath her feet and engulfed the cross unnaturally- flame climbing up Eilithe’s legs, burning against her feet. Agony, but she had faith. 

It was unclear how long she’d been caught in the purgatory of half-burning half-not, resisting pain that she could not discern was real or not. No, it could not have been real, she would have passed out. Unless she’d been passed right along into death, now victim of torture of her soul for some unknown’s amusement. 

Faith. 

And so she had it, not in any man, nor any god, in herself. She called again. “Saakes of the Crossroads! Lord of Deals! I command that you show yourself.” It was no request nor incantation, it was an order, with clear intent. 

The red was the first to bleed out of world, then oranges and yellows. The fire was gone. So was the pain. Then the blues and greens went, leaving only black, white, and grey. 

The Other Side. 

“You got’ lotta guts zulfi,” the voice of a troll rumbled with a laugh. “Callin on me like dat.”

Under her feet was the cross she’d left behind, black lines on the ground going North and South, East and West. For eons in all directions. From that spot she couldn’t move, even as the creaking of the troll’s bone moved around her. 

“Ya surprise Saakes tho’- makin’ it dis far without much help but from one those what owe Saakes debt.” 

Eilithe looked at him then, massive tusks protruding out and hair down his back- broad shoulders and impossible in height. He looked like many trolls she’d seen in her day. What made him different were the things he carried. Six shrunken heads on either side of his belt- though strange to Eilithe their eyes were not sewn shut, as was tradition. From his hair hung down baubles, crude gambling dice, coins in various different currency. Trinkets of gamblers and drinkers. Of dealmakers. 

“Ya come here wantin’ power ta hold yaself ova’, but whatchu’ bring Saakes, E’leet’?” He jammed a nail in between his teeth and picked. 

Loa were dangerous, on whole- even the benevolent ones- but those that walked the line in between were far worse. A dealmaker all her own, she knew the game. “Do not insult me, I have come to trade service for service. No more no less,” Eilithe opened up her arms, “Ward me, Saakes of the Crossroads, from the dead who would inhabit me. Restore me to my former power. Name your price.” 

It was the last part of her request that game him pause. A disgusting grin exposing his jagged teeth. “Ya don’ mean ta before ya Harbinga’ found deat’, ya mean before. Dats a task- ya got alotta voices screamin’ for ya soul. Price be steep ta fix’ya.” 

“Then let it be steep, name it.” 

A rumble came from Saakes, before he paced around her and towered behind her. “Ol’ Saakes don’ get a break here. All dem souls what get lost along da’ whey- lost from Bwonsamedi, and tryna’ get ta’ Mueh’Zala. Tell ya wha’. You like ta’ make bets don’cha? Lez’ bet instead, ya like ya odds Eleet’?”

Eilithe sneered at him, “Name your terms, dealmaker.”

“I give ya numba’ you bring dat numba’ here, before ya deat’ an’ ya get off free from ya debt ta’ Saakes. Enjoy da’ peace o deat’ with ya brood kids an’ ya mate. In life ya have Saakes’ powa’, guidance, and ya have ya earn ya inna’ strengt’ back.”

The deal was simple and enticing, but she knew better. “And if I fail?” 

He left out a loud and shrill ‘Hehe’. “If ya fail Eleet’ ya take Saakes’ place here, makin’ deals wit’ da lost and desperate.” 

“How many.”

He answered her in a whisper and number that was surprisingly fair. Fair unless she met an untimely death. 

“Do we have a deal, Eleet’?” His hand came out and offered a shake, but Eilithe could only look- calculating for a moment. Risk eternity, gain power and gain some semblance of relief from the weight she carried. Alternatively, she could turn back-- and risk being devoured by beasts that haunted her. 

“We have a deal.” Her hand went tentatively to shake with his, but he snatched it and squeezed. Into her back, she felt a brand- two sticks crossed at equal lengths on all sides, seared into the flesh of her back. It was so sudden that she had to stifle herself- but she did not scream, nor cry. 

Left in ragged breaths, when he let go, she felt something left over in her hand. A band in silver, and a black stone Eilithe held it in a shaking hand. “What.. What is it?”

“A new pet from ya new Patron,” he let out another shrill laugh, “Saakes is a generous God. Vrede will serve ya well, protect ya” He waved a hand, “Now go back ya got work ta do an’ rememba’ when ya need ta come back, Saakes like gold, an’ rum, ya?” 

He laugh echoed and the world bent around her before it was black entirely.

It felt like minutes, but when she awoke it was unburnt in the center of the stone circle, a blackened ‘x’ beneath her body. The ring closed in her right hand, and a searing pain across her back- she stood. It was still night... or perhaps, it was the next night. With now way to tell, she made for the trees.

@kurel-andiel @velerodra-valesinger for mentions