#zelva
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craftsypenguin · 9 months ago
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Christmas time! Oh, it's not anymore, is it? Nevermind, here's another Xmas make for a friend who directly wished for such a turtle and even provided me with a pattern. It was a very enjoyable quick project, it surprised me how fast ot worked up. Only hiccup happened with a weird crocheting together instruction and I ended up changing the position of the legs in the end. Happy little 🐢
#crocheting #crochet #hackovani #handmade #handmadegift #turtle #crochetturtle #crochetanimals #amigurumi #hackovanazviratka #hackovanazelva #zelva #xmasgifts #xmasmakes #quickproject #smallproject
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mdr8400 · 1 month ago
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Zelva
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michellemouse · 6 months ago
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Zierra's sisters
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reyofluke-ocs · 7 months ago
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OCs DESERVE BETTER -> Zelva Arkant'tar (Baldur's Gate 3)
"I don't remember anything but my name. But I do know there's this... darkness, in me. And I don't know how long I can keep it at bay."
Losing her entire family in a hate attack against drows, Seldarine Drow Nisha Arkant'tar became driven by vengence, earning herself the nickname 'Drow of Death'. She also turned to worshipping Bhaal, the God of Murder, and her efficiency earned her the attention of Bhaal himself. Looking for various women to have children to bring about his own ressurrection, Bhaal chose Nisha to be one of those woman. Months later, she gave birth to a baby she named Zelva. Knowing how vicious the infighting among drows were, and not wanting a repeat of the massacre that led her down her current path, Nisha travelled to Baldur's Gate and left her baby girl in the care of the Temple of Bhaal.
Being born the child of Bhaal himself, Zelva is afforded more leniecy than Bhaalspawn's, though she still grows up in the cut-throat world of the Temple, where anything and everything can be used against you as a potential weakness. Still, Zelva finds herself - against what is expected of her - developing a soft spot for various stray animals, and even taking one in. Only to find that same animal later dead in her room, and Zelva knows exactly who is responsible: the changling Orin, who despises Zelva for being a fellow child of Bhaal.
From that day forth, Zelva never kept anything - living or inanimate - for herself, knowing Orin would just destroy it. So when Zelva is chosen to be Bhaal's Chosen to put into the plan to create the Absolute, she is not surprised to find Orin betray her by stabbing her, infecting her with a Mindflayer tadpole, and leaving her for dead. What she didn't expect, was to be saved by Kressa Bonedaughter and experimented and tortured on until her mind broke and suppressed her memories in an act of self-preservation. Only knowing her name upon waking aboard a nautiloid, Zelva joins forces with a fellow group of tadpole infected individuals on a quest to find a cure before they become Mindflayers. Maybe, if she's lucky enough, she can find out why she has no memory but is constantly compelled to shed blood and kill.
thanks to @astarionbae for Zelva's mom's name as well as helping me with DnD lore to create Zelva's backstory! tagging: @endless-oc-creations@stanshollaand, @foxesandmagic , @hiddenqveendom , @arrthurpendragon ,@cas-verse, @eddiemunscns , @far-shores, @oneirataxia-girl, if anyone wants to be added/removed or I accidentally forgot, please let me know!
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ayumunoya · 7 months ago
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Meet Fuji 🥰🐢♥️🌸
Today we are getting our new friend 🥹🥹🥹
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thebusytypewriter · 6 months ago
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Tri-God AU - The Former Bishops
Five becomes four becomes three becomes two becomes one becomes nothing . . . becomes three. The four are left to be shepherded by the three.
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Leshy
Assistant farmer, loves his dirt.
Has a partner: Basil, golden barn cat. May have another on the verge of confession.
Self-proclaimed “good boy” (learned the phrase from someone in camp. Basil can and will find out who).
Despite being a “good boy,” he still very much likes to cause chaos in little ways on the daily.
Tall boy, built like a proper cryptid. (Is still gentle with his kitty)
Bottomless pit for food.
Sleeps immersed in the soil every so often.
Heket
Head chef, damn good at her job.
Only speaks on rare occasions, and with great difficulty. She signs most of the time and developed a system for tapping rhythms in the kitchen for communication.
Has a blossoming relationship with the fox Alnana, her second-in-command.
Small but mighty. Can and will kick ass if needed.
Was a farmer originally, while she was recovering.
The other bottomless pit for food.
Surprisingly good with kids.
Kallamar
Head medic after being supervised by the old turtle Zelva.
Ears are still torn off; he instead has stained glass-esque ear cuffs that distract from the injury. They double as sound funnels when needed.
Invented a new medical technique in which he can use his inherent echolocation abilities to sound out abnormalities in someone’s body.
BIG hand-talker. Lots of gestures. It mixes with signing sometimes.
Jumpy and cowardly in general, but still quite sociable.
No set longterm partner, but instead bounces around between shortterm partners.
Spends his free time either in the library or in the saltwater lake.
Shamura
Advisor to the Deaths.
Regained most cognizance after a couple hundred years of memory therapy.
Soft- and slow-spoken.
Doubles as head librarian and teacher when needed.
Does still have a strained relationship with all three gods, but their faith is unmistakable, so the Deaths let it slide.
Sits and knits when their mind is not at its top form. Tends to speak in prophecies and metaphors when this happens.
Took on Kaliaphra’s cousin Theanno as his mentor of sorts. They feel a strong kinship with him despite… events.
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Tri-God AU - The Gods of Death
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alex-kyanite · 3 months ago
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Here’s the next revenge for @mewa-chu ! Had lots of fun drawing Noodle and thanks sm again for drawing Zelva!!
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barbarapicci · 7 months ago
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Streetart by Zelva 1 + Smoke @ Supe, Peru, for ConcreArte Festival
More pics at: https://barbarapicci.com/2024/04/11/streetart-zelva-1-smoke-supe-peru/
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German soldiers in a seized Czechoslovakian Skoda Pa-II Zelva armored car. Only a handful were built but some units survived until the mid 40s mostly in internal security duties in Czechoslovakia, Slovakia and Romania.
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dudewhoabides · 1 year ago
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StreetArt by Zelva 1 Lima, Peru
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nedsecondline · 7 months ago
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Streetart – Zelva 1 + Smoke @ Supe, Peru
Title: Madre del algodón Location: Supe, Peru Artists: Joe Fernández Carrasco aka Zelva 1 + Smoke For: ConcreArte Festival Year: 2023 Photo credits: …Streetart – Zelva 1 + Smoke @ Supe, Peru
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rydrake6 · 1 year ago
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I've been working on the lore for Stoneseige, so I might do a few posts about it. On a side note, I redesigned the Stardrakes. Or should I say Staramphitheries?(I renamed them because Stardrake was taken by Spectrobes) I'll show the refs for some characters under the keep reading link. (I did more than just showing the refs if you click read more then prepare for an info dump)
Okay so these are the old designs.
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Not really the best designs for them. They look like creatures you'd find at the end of the rainbow or like a cross between carebears, unicorns, and barney the dinosaur. So I figured it was high time for a redesign. (Also, the bottom reference sheet says Zelva, but that character's name is actually Zatros. I was still figuring out the name at the time I drew that ref and I later decided that Zatros was a better name.)
So here's the new design for one of them.
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I always wanted to somewhat base them off of feathered dinosaurs. I think the new design is much better than the old one. I also updated the lore and I added a different type: Scorched. I'll save the lore for a different post, but for now I'll explain the design differences between a normal Staramphithere and a Scorched Staramphithere.
So a normal Staramphithere is normally very brightly colored. Like colors that would hurt your eyes if you looked for too long. Like you see with Vigor up above. Their horns are normally some variation of bright red, yellow, or orange and their scales and feathers are very brightly colored. Another detail that isn't shown here is that normally, Staramphitheries glow in the dark. So if I drew Vigor in a really dark cave, he would light up the cave because with him being a Star dragon, he glows in the dark.
Now Scorched Staramphitheries, on the other hand, are much darker in color. For example, see this Scorched version of Vigor I made(Who'll probably be seen in some of the darker routes in Stoneseige).
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I'll admit that all I did to make this was color over the original Ref Sheet with black and make it transparent, but the sentiment still stands!
Anyways, Scorched Staramphitheries have darkly colored scales and feathers. The brightest colors they have on them are their eyes, which are always some variation of red. Heterochromia is possible and common for Scorched Staramphitheries, but at least one eye is always red.
I know I said I'd do lore in a different post buuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttt......
There are two ways which a Scorched Staramphithere can happen:
They can be born that way, which is rare and normally when it happens, the Scorched Staramphithere ends up being an outcast because Scorched Staramphitheries are seen as evil. Or
A regular Staramphithere can become Scorched by doing something really really bad. Sometimes it has something to do with an elemental Obelisk as well. And a lot of the time, there's burn scars left behind, hence being "Scorched."
I know I've said that Stoneseige is somewhat inspired by Undertale and all that, so I'll just let you take a wild guess as to how Vigor went from the nice looking guy in the first Ref to the scary looking dude in the first Ref. The villain, Zatros, is also Scorched and became Scorched in this way. I'm still working on his Ref, but when I do post it, you'll be able to see burn scars on his design.
Another little detail about Scorched Staramphitheries is that they can't glow in the dark. In fact, they lose pretty much all the powers that they once had related to the stars(Which I'm still figuring out the specifics of). Staramphithere hybrids are also more likely to be born Scorched.
Whew. Welp, that's a lot more info than I was planning to put down, but it was worth it. Oh wait, there's more.
I wasn't originally going to add Sexual dimorphism to the species, but Vigor is trans, so I figured that I would add something. I have another trans character who happens to be my fursona, Zephyr, and he kind of inspired some of the design changes. Mainly the extra horns on the side of the Female Staramphitherie's head. I'll put the refs down below.
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Male Staramphithere base.
Vs.
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Female Staramphithere base.
(Side note if you want to use these to make a character you can, just credit me for making the base and the species. Also, remember the guidelines for making one. Or don't. It doesn't really matter that much if you follow the last part. Just note if you do make a Staramphithere character, I may or may not ask for permission to use your character in the game later on.)
Anyways, as you can see, there's kind of a subtle difference between the Female and the male designs. Just an extra pair of horns on the side of the face next to the feathers.
And if you're wondering why Vigor doesn't have those side horns if he's trans, that's because he went to see a wizard that lives in the middle of a faraway enchanted forest because he didn't want to be a princess anymore and the wizard gave him a spell that would make him into a male Staramphithere in all ways but the way he makes babies.
There's way more lore than just that, but this post is about character design. Not lore. Also the Wizard is also trans, it's a whole thing. I probably shouldn't be spoiling all of this, but this is Tumblr. I make posts at a decent rate. By the time Stoneseige is a completed game, this post is going to be buried. Or maybe it'll have like a bajillion notes. Idk what will happen. This site is weird. Also there's a keep reading link, so anyone who doesn't want to read past it won't.
Anyways, thanks for reading all of this stuff about character designs and stay tuned for a post where I dump the entire lore of a videogame that doesn't exist yet because I haven't made it.
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reyofluke-ocs · 8 months ago
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BALDUR'S GATE 3 OC SHIPS + First(ish) Meetings (p1)
Rosla Greenbriar x Shadowheart Morxan Elmith x Lae'zel Zelva Arkant'tar x Gale Dekarios
bg3 fans: @astarionbae, @daughter-of-melpomene, @endless-oc-creations tagging:@endless-oc-creations@stanshollaand, @foxesandmagic , @hiddenqveendom , @arrthurpendragon ,@cas-verse, @eddiemunscns , @far-shores, @oneirataxia-girl, if anyone wants to be added/removed or I accidentally forgot, please let me know! psd: x
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finaguide · 2 years ago
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Que faire et où aller en Cappadoce ?
1. Admirez les paysages cosmiques
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 La principale fierté de la Cappadoce est les formations bizarres en forme de cône.  Mais ce n'est en aucun cas l'œuvre de mains humaines.  Il y a des millions d'années, les volcans voisins ont recouvert la région de cendres et de lave, et plus tard, le vent et la pluie ont emporté les couches et sculpté les formes résultantes.  C'est là que ces fabuleux champignons sur pattes, ou, comme on les appelle aussi, "cheminées de fées" (cheminées de fées) sont nés.  Le cluster principal n'est pas loin du village de Zelva.
2. Promenez-vous dans la ville souterraine
 L'histoire de Derinkuyu est vraiment impressionnante : elle existe depuis plus de 20 siècles et descend jusqu'à 60 mètres sous terre (ce qui, pour un moment, ressemble à un immeuble de 20 étages).  En plus des locaux résidentiels, des caves, des écoles, des temples, des écuries et même des cimetières se trouvaient à l'intérieur.  Apparemment, la ville a été construite par les Hittites, mais les derniers habitants étaient des chrétiens qui se cachaient de la persécution.  Les touristes peuvent se promener dans les couloirs bas et les chambres de cinq étages, le prix est de 35 TL (6 €).  Ne convient pas aux personnes souffrant de claustrophobie.
3. Avoir un coucher de soleil romantique
 Venez au Crazy Ali Panorama Café (tapez simplement le nom dans Google Maps), asseyez-vous sur un banc moelleux presque au-dessus de la falaise et regardez les chauds rayons du soleil se répandre sur la vallée rouge (Kızılçukur).
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thebusytypewriter · 7 months ago
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Hail the Lamb, Resilient and Eternal
Here it is, the starting point of the Tri-God AU timeline! Many thanks to Jonnie @jonquilandlace my beloved for helping me out :D
You can also find this on AO3 if that suits you better.
CW: blood, gore, major character death (not permanent)
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“MEDICS!”
All hell broke loose at the cry, startling every creature within the grounds into action. The aforementioned medics scrambled from their idle activities to meet a wide-eyed rabbit at the camp entrance, where they kept their benevolent leader from collapsing by holding them upright as best as they could.
The Lamb of prophecy, who seemed indestructible to the common folk, stood half limp in their support. Crimson blood flowed down their face from somewhere atop their wooly head, dripping onto both an equally-red cloak and the vegetation below. One eye was bruised deeply to the point of being swollen shut, while the other stared at the ground, cloudy and unfocused.
Truely, it was a rare sight to behold for their flock, and many panicked animals dropped what they were doing to either assist or observe.
In the small hut of a kitchen remained one deer, silver in color, who watched the events unfold with worry. Kaliaphra wasn’t one to act in such situations, lest she be in the way of the people whose skills mattered there. That wasn’t to say she was unskilled, just that she’d never belonged to the area of healing.
Instead, she stared with horrified intrigue, a half-finished fish dish already forgotten on the counter behind her.
“My Lamb!” exclaimed the head medic, an elderly turtle by the name of Zelva. “My Lamb, what happened? Can you speak? Please, say something if you are conscious!”
Despite her distance, Kaliaphra could tell that The Lamb didn’t respond based on the increased numbers of furrowed brows. More hurried words were exchanged between Zelva and her students, and the largest among them took their leader into their arms to carry them toward the healing tent. The Lamb’s limbs dangled limply as they did so.
Whatever had happened in Anura, it wasn’t good.
“Kali, your tuna’s burning.”
She startled, whirling back around to pull her skillet off the fire. “Hells, Theo! You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
The brown buck that entered the kitchen—Theanno, her cousin who might as well have been her brother—simply smiled at her, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “At least you’d be seeing Death. Aside from the, um, burning, how’s it coming in here?”
“Slow,” she sighed, pulling out a cloth to wrap the burnt fish. “I was already having a difficult time staying on task, and then The Lamb returned, and… did you get a better look at them? How bad is it?”
He leaned back against the countertop adjacent to her. “Couldn’t have seen more than you just now. That was… a lot of blood coming from them, though. I wonder if the healers can patch them up.”
“Well, even if they cannot, our leader will return to us shortly after, right? Death favors them. They bear his Crown.”
“Yeah, but…”
Kaliaphra turned sharply toward her cousin with wide eyes. “‘But’? Theo, you cannot question the nature of the Lamb.”
“I’m not,” he insisted. “I’m just worried. We’ve never seen them so hurt, right, so what happens if we lose them? Do we just… go back to where we were before?”
“We should not be thinking about this.”
“It’s a real problem, Kali! We couldn’t stay here; the Bishops—”
With a loud metallic thunk, Kaliaphra slammed the still-warm skillet on the counter next to him. She stared up at Theanno there, at his stunned expression, and hissed, “The Bishops, of two there are remaining, cannot touch this place. I am not worried about it, and you should not be, either. Imagine if an elder heard you; they would think that you are dissenting.”
Calmly, solemnly, Theo raised one hand and extended a finger to lightly boop her on the nose. “I’m not dissenting. We’re under the Lamb’s protection, I know. I’m just… thinking out loud. I’ve gotta get back to the crops. You should see if the healers need lunch. That way, you can keep an eye on our Lamb.”
The tonal shift of their conversation threw Kali off-balance. “What—you—”
“Okayloveyoubyeeee!” In a torrent of a wave and a head pat, Theanno slipped back out of the hut, leaving her alone again.
He throws existential dread on me then leaves, she grumbled to herself. Now I have to check in on the Lamb.
She grabbed a few covered bowls from the storage crate—only berries would be properly stored there—and layered them on a tray, careful to balance each even as she lifted the tray. It wasn’t an unpracticed movement, given how she’d taken to serving dinner to her family before, well, being separated from them. If anything, it was comfortingly familiar.
Kaliaphra slipped out of the kitchen hut and crossed the grounds toward the infirmary tent. Many of her fellow cultists were still floating around the entrance, their tasks remaining unfinished in their hands, but they didn’t seem to care. They stared at the infirmary in deep concern and only scattered when she gently told them to shoo.
With a deep breath, she prepared to announce her entrance, but a scream cut her off.
She shouldered her way inside to assist and was met with a rather… frightening scene.
The circle of healers had taken a large step back from the cot, each raising their hands in some semblance of placation. Upon the cot, most worryingly, squatted the Lamb. Their eyes were wide with fear, and they had somehow managed to grab hold of a small and pointy stick.
“Get back!” the Lamb shrieked, waving their acquired stick like a dagger. (Instinct, perhaps?) “I won’t go with you, do you understand? I refuse to be sacrificed just because of some… some dumb prophecy!”
Confounded murmurs filled the space.
“Prophecy?”
“Sacrifice?”
“Have they forgotten the years of this establishment?”
“My Lamb,” Zelva said, playing up her comforting tone, “we are not here to bring you to the Bishops. You escaped from them, and you have unified us all here under the Red Crown. Do you… not remember?”
They stared up at her with the most dumbfounded expression Kali had ever seen on them. “I don’t know what in the hells you’re talking about. I was… on my way to scavenge when a group of robed individuals—” The Lamb glanced suspiciously about the tent, which contained several people fitting that description— “bounded me in chains to take me away to the Bishops. I don’t follow the Red Crown; I don’t follow anyone!”
There was something of a faint collective gasp among the group (which made sense, since the Lamb was essentially speaking heresy without realizing it).
“Zelva,” Kali murmured, setting her tray of berry bowls on a table, “what… happened to them?”
The old turtle sighed and dragged a hand down her face. “From what I could see before they began threatening us with a stick, there are signs of severe head trauma possibly originating from their most recent trip through Anura. They most certainly defeated the Bishop Heket, but I imagine something hit them before they made their escape.”
“Meaning…?”
“Amnesia. At least partially. They appear to have forgotten events after their execution, including the founding of this camp.”
“And the Red Crown?”
“At the moment, Filip is placing the Crown within the Temple.”
“The sermons?”
“Canceled until further notice.”
“The Bishops?”
“Will never know.”
“But—”
“Kaliaphra.” Zelva grabbed her by the shoulders. “We will ensure that the Bishops will never know. If they find out, our little camp here is done for. We have nothing to defend us. Please, remain diligent in your duties, and if anyone asks, the Lamb is injured and recovering.”
Kali looked between her and their now-sedated leader, who appeared as a small lamb for once instead of the grand holy being the cult knew them to be.
Or thought them to be.
“Yes, ma’am,” she nodded. “If you or anyone here needs anything, let me know. Or let Theanno know.”
Zelva visibly relaxed, a tired smile finding its way onto her face. “Of course. Thank you, dear. We will get through this together, under Death’s grace.”
“Yes, ma’am. Praise the Lamb.”
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Sleep was difficult to wrangle that night, and the next, and the next.
Kaliaphra stared at the roof of her tent as she silently begged to fall into the sweet abyss, but her thoughts granted her no such relief. She was too busy thinking about the events of the previous days, about Theanno’s words and Zelva’s worry and the Lamb’s evident amnesia.
“We’ve never seen them so hurt, right, so what happens if we lose them?”
“We will ensure that the Bishops will never know. If they find out, our little camp here is done for. We have nothing to defend us.”
Granted, it had hardly been half a week since the Lamb returned, but with how fast word spread about the camp, Kali was certain that all of the Lamb’s followers would know soon. If doubt grew among them, flowering into dissent, it would only be a matter of time before someone left and crawled back to the Bishops.
The Lamb was not improving.
Someone had to do something.
They needed help of divine levels, and she wondered, if nothing else, whether the Lamb’s sacred Red Crown would have some form of solution, even a temporary one. She’d seen its power in action before, when the Lamb took command over their fields during the Heket-inflicted famine. Surely it had something, like a barrier to put up around the grounds.
The only question was whether someone had to wear the Crown—or maybe even be skilled with it—for it to do something. Only one way to find out, she supposed.
Kaliaphra pushed herself up from her bedroll and cautiously poked her head outside, letting the tent flaps continue to obscure her some. She appeared to be lucky in that all lanterns around the residential area of the camp were out, save for the infirmary, which was still a large enough distance away that it wasn’t a threat.
She went through a mental checklist of members, trying to discern who did and didn’t have one of those moon pendants the Lamb had offered. The only one that came to mind was a medic, who was no doubt in the infirmary.
Assuming no one was guarding the Crown—and why would they, when anyone in the cult hardly separated it from its bearer in terms of fear and respect—she had a straight shot.
As swiftly as possible, Kali made a sprint for the temple. She dared not go slower, even if it meant a lesser likelihood of stepping on something loud, since it would be way more likely for someone to wake up for a snack or to use the outhouse. All she had to do was slip in through the semi-ajar door (which she mentally thanked Filip for, even if it was unintentional) and close it behind herself, which went off without a hitch.
A dim temple greeted her, the only light coming from the ever-lit candles on either side of the lectern. It was just enough to provide some visibility, even if both Kali and Theanno had great night vision to begin with, but more specifically on the Red Crown sitting upon the altar.
It was odd, seeing the Crown not on the Lamb’s head. While the Lamb, in their state, seemed much smaller than usual, the Crown without the Lamb felt larger than it should. More imposing, even. Its singular red eye remained wide open, and though its glow had dimmed significantly, she had the feeling it was anything but dormant as it stared through her.
She almost wanted to tell it to blink.
Nevertheless, Kali swallowed her unease and strode forward down the aisle just as she had been for something close to twenty years, which might as well have been two years with the enchanted pendants the Lamb had gifted her and Theo. It came second nature; little light needed to guide her.
Though she had never been afraid of the dark, her fur stood on end as she noticed the feeling of being watched. By the Crown? Perhaps, but… not quite.
With a bowed head, she stepped up to the altar. Her heart raced with the panic of I should not be here, I should not be the one standing at the altar, but she tried her best to shove it down. What she was doing was important and could possibly save the cult from being wiped out.
Kaliaphra lowered herself to kneel in front of the altar, bending until she was just under eye-level with the Red Crown and folding her hands neatly upon her lap. “I am… unsure if I should be addressing Death here, as I am simply looking at the Crown without its bearer, so I will plead with both god and tool.”
If the Crown could look expectant, it did.
“I fear for the safety of these people,” she began, letting her eyes fall shut. “I have only ever been afraid like this when the Lamb brought me here for the first time. I doubted then. Over time, I have grown to trust them with my life. But they have fallen. Not in death, but I am afraid this is worse. If it were death, The One Who Waits would surely revive them. Instead, they cannot be helped outside of medical attention, and even that is a waiting game.
“If the Bishops find this place, all will be executed for heresy. What shall be done? I would sacrifice anything to make this right. I would give my own life. What is my life in comparison to the many other lives being lived here? It is but a speck of dust.” Kali paused for a moment, cracking one eye open to check if the Crown was still paying attention. (What a silly thought, she mused. The Red Crown is not sentient.)
Its singular red eye stared back at her, unblinking and unmoving.
Somehow, that was more discouraging.
She sighed. “We were taught that The One Who Waits does not answer prayer directly. He speaks through his vessel in miracles, but they are the one to hear our pleas. What is left when the vessel forgets that they are a vessel? What is left when a fawn who loves her family has to leave them behind? Theanno… he is all I have of them here. I promised him that he would be safe in this place, under the Lamb.”
A growing desperation bubbled in her chest with each passing thought, and Kaliaphra found herself crawling forward to grasp the altar and stare into the Crown’s eye directly as her vision blurred. “Please, do you not understand how hopeless this is? I do not ask for much if you do not wish to give it, but the situation must be remedied! Tell me what I have to do! Help me!”
The plea rang out through the temple, bouncing off the walls again and again until it faded.
The Red Crown did nothing.
Bitterly, she had the passing thought that a no would’ve hurt less than this.
Kaliaphra pushed herself up to stand over the Crown upon the altar, wiping the few stray tears that had fallen. “…Foolish. I do not know why I thought Death would listen to one little follower, anyway. It was worth a—”
In a flash, a literal flash of red, the sacred artifact shifted forms.
No longer did she see the Red Crown as a crown, or at least not a full crown; the pointed tips of its top stretched and wrapped around and around each other to a point, leaving it in a vague lance shape in the span of milliseconds.
That is, she was only somewhat sure it came to a point. The end of the Crown was out of her view, even as she followed it from the altar closer to her and—
Through her chest.
Through her heart.
Out her back.
That was when she registered two things a second too late. One, the deafening squelch and crack of flesh and bone being driven through by, well, Crown. Two, the burning pain that felt more like a stream of red hot fire than a blade.
Kaliaphra screamed, agony tearing through her throat.
There was a fleeting thought that she just woke up the entire camp, but it was drowned by growing panic accompanied by the taste of iron in her mouth. Her throat was closing, but was it due to the blood, or was she in shock? Shit, she didn’t know enough about medicine to tell.
What she did know was that she was going to die.
She had asked to help her be rid of the situation.
Was this a sick joke?
Was it mercy?
To be put out of her misery?
Her hooves scraped weakly at the floor beneath her, the Crown’s sharp blade holding her just aloft with surprising strength—as if she weighed nothing to it. As she struggled to catch her breath, choking on it instead, a strangled bleat pulled itself from her in some desperate attempt to call for Theanno.
The Red Crown retracted then, its lance shape ripping from her chest and dropping her onto the wooden floor. Kaliaphra’s vision was flickering then, and a horrific numbness began to settle in. The floor grew wet beneath her, and she felt it pooling around her fingertips and ear as she lay discarded on her side.
What… did I do wrong?
A distant muffled bleat was the last thing she heard.
Then there was nothing.
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When her eyes opened, Kaliaphra was blinded with white.
Given how dark the temple had just been, the change of brightness was undesirable. The sky above her was far too bright, and the ground beneath her was far too soft. Fluffy, almost.
Odd.
She turned her head to get a better look and was greeted not with a wooden floor, but with what appeared to be… clouds.
A discomfort upon her chest suddenly became apparent to her, both crushing and sharp, two different sensations. Images flashed through her memory. The eye, the blade, the blood.
The weighted sensation, she realized, was likely her stopped heart.
Kali moved to sit up, knocking something sitting on her chest onto her lap instead. When she looked down, she was greeted with the unblinking stare of the Red Crown.
“You,” she murmured, afraid of her voice carrying through the expanse. “What… did you do?”
There was no response, which had to be the most normal thing in the situation. It was still enough that one wouldn’t have known how it morphed to stab her only moments ago.
Kaliaphra huffed through her nose with growing annoyance. “Some help you are. Perhaps if I simply stay here and do not move, do not interact with anything, I will wake up from this nightmare. The Lamb will be fine, everyone will be safe, and everything will be as it should.”
“I know you’re there.”
A deep, rumbling voice reverberated around her, startling her and sending some of the clouds scattering. Kali looked up from her lap to fully survey her surroundings, and she took notice of a distant but massive figure bound in chains among the clouds. The image was familiar, one that the Lamb had explained vaguely to their flock from their times of indoctrination. Death had an incredibly recognizable appearance, all things considered.
She swallowed hard, a pit opening in her stomach.
The distance and the veil made it impossible for her to see his face, but she somehow knew that The One Who Waits was looking directly at her. “Come closer, little fawn,” the tall cat bishop purred. “In death, you will be of use to me.”
Kali looked back down at the Crown.
It looked back at her, and she’d almost expected it to give a meaningful glance toward said bishop. A go on gesture, in a sense. But it gave no such answer.
Once again, incredibly helpful.
She lifted the Crown from its place on her lap and pushed herself up, instinctively brushing off her tunic as if rising from the dirt instead. (It was silly, she acknowledged, but at least it could give her the appearance of being put together.)
Kaliaphra strode forward on shaking legs through the parting clouds. If she was to meet her god, she needed to be calm and collected, but her tight grip on the Crown did nothing to help.
As she grew closer, she noticed the two smaller cats kneeling on either side of the god. Their fur was a deep gray—not quite black—and their matching pairs of crimson eyes remained solely on her as she approached. The one on Death’s right donned black and red robes, while the one on his left had white robes. Both wore veils like their master, though theirs were slightly more transparent, hence why she could meet their intense stares.
She felt more like an intruder within their space. Her gaze snapped once again to the being in the middle, though she dared not look him in the eye, instead settling for the clouds at his feet.
The sound of her footsteps changed from soft pompfs of air to hooves on stone as she stepped onto a small circular platform painted with a pentagram, and she figured that was a good place to pause. Kali dipped low into a curtsey, one she had perfected during her time under the Bishop Shamura, but said nothing. The common rule within the Silk Cradle was do not speak unless spoken to.
Given how she was standing before Death, she didn’t feel like testing the limits with other gods.
“Polite little thing,” said The One Who Waits, finally. “What a refreshing change of pace. Stand, little fawn, and let me see you.”
Without a second thought, she complied, raising her gaze enough to find the bottom edge of his veil.
“How peculiar that you would enter my domain with my Crown in your hands. I entrusted that Crown to The Lamb. How is it, then, that you hold it, mere follower?”
Despite having little-to-no control over that exact situation, Kali stuttered, “I mean no disrespect by it, my lord! The Lamb is—”
He held up one skeletal hand to stop her. “I am well aware of what has befallen my vessel. It is… inconvenient, to say the least. Since The Lamb is neither dead nor dying, I can do nothing to assist. Truly a setback.” Jagged teeth became more visible as the corners of his mouth curled upward. “But no matter. You worry for the safety of your flock, do you not? That is why you volunteered your life.”
Kaliaphra bit her lip anxiously for a moment. She did offer her life to the Crown in panic, didn’t she? While she certainly didn’t expect to stand before The One Who Waits in order to fulfill that statement, there really were only so many ways such an offer would come to fruition. “What… What would you have me do, my lord? I am just a deserter who can only somewhat mince fish and cauliflower.”
“Ah… but you can brandish a knife, then?” The God of Death inclined his head in what she faintly recognized to be a patronizing manner. “While you may not believe it, that is more than The Lamb could say when they first appeared before me. Rejoice in your abilities, for they will save your hide in battle.”
“B-Battle, my lord?”
She swore she saw the cat at his right snicker from her question.
“Battle,” he repeated. “Despite the façade you put on, I know you are familiar with it. I have seen you cut down many an enemy during your time as a soldier trainee.”
Ah, damn it. “Oh, I, uh—“
“And yet you lie to my face.” The ever-present grin dropped abruptly. “Fear lingers in you despite your experience, Kaliaphra. I will be merciful just this once.”
Kali’s breath hitched as terror took its choking hold on her. He knew her name. He knew her by name. “Forgive me, please! I would have been upfront about it, but… it has been some time since I fought last.”
The One Who Waits waved a hand. “It has become instinct for you, nonetheless, one that you will utilize while you bear the Crown.”
It was like ice had been dumped over her. She dared to meet his gaze, finally. “…My lord?”
“A temporary vessel,” he clarified, his wide smile of sharp teeth returning. “You shall take on the duties of the Lamb until they can return once more. Tend to the flock. Venture forth on crusades. Spread faith and influence. Slay my traitorous siblings. That is for which you have volunteered your life.”
She stared up at him, up at the gleeful unblinking trio of red eyes behind a veil, and found no trace of humor. No ounce of empathy. The One Who Waits was placing her in the position of leader against her will. If she should decline…
One clawed hand, belonging to the white-robed cat in white on Death’s left, twitched as if he’d heard her thought.
Ah. She couldn’t.
To decline meant death. No doubt it would be an insult to the bishop himself. She had no other option.
“It will not be for an eternity,” The One Who Waits purred, “that much I can swear with the assumption that my vessel recovers. Should they not, your position will become a permanent one. Do we have an understanding, fawn?”
As much as she wanted to do otherwise, Kaliaphra lowered herself back into a deep curtsy. “Y…Yes, my lord. I will do everything in my power to serve you.”
“Good. Do not disappoint me. Unlike the Lamb, you are incredibly replaceable.”
The pentagram lit up beneath her feet, and her soul left the Below with a new weighing dread upon it.
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Kaliaphra propped herself up with one arm and promptly vomited onto the floor next to the altar.
Her chest ached, not with the pain of the fatal wound but with anxiety and horror. She was faintly aware that she had, in fact, returned to the living world, but she was waiting for the pounding of her heart to cease before fully taking stock.
Was she dreaming? Surely, she had been dreaming. In her panic to do something about the Lamb’s situation, she had run into the temple and… hit her head. Passed out. That was the only logical option. Or, better yet, all of that was a dream, too; she’d eaten some wild mushrooms by mistake and had a wild dream as a result.
…Why did her head feel so heavy?
Something, some form of light, reflected off of the polished quartz altar, startling Kali. As she turned her head back to further investigate, the colored light reflected again—red. Once she sat still, the steady red glow remained… just above her head, if the silhouette was anything to go by. Was that…
She raised one hand up to grab it, but the crash of the temple doors startled her into dropping her hand and pushing herself onto her feet.
“Kaliaphra,” came the clipped voice of Zelva as she led what looked like the entire cult into the room. “What on earth is—Are you wearing the Red Crown?”
Her eyes ran over the assembling crowd, already trying to think of a way out of facing them yet. Was there one, though? Was it right to wait, if this was in fact really happening? Was there even a way for her to answer without looking like a fool? “Y…Yes, I am.”
The old turtle scoffed incredulously. “Stars above, no one should be touching it but the Lamb. And—is that… blood? Vomit? Child, are you drunk?”
“No!” she snapped back, the weight of the eyes on her immensely present. “I am not drunk. I… I have…” 
But she trailed off, uncertain how exactly to explain the situation. Kali’s eyes skimmed the assembled followers, searching desperately for reassurance, for familiarity, for her cousin’s eyes among colleagues, friends, acquaintances, accusers. 
In the doorway, familiar horns just barely fit in the doorway. 
She held her breath, a long moment, then began again. “I have spoken to The One Who Waits. It appears that he has placed me in the Lamb’s position until they recover. And I know that sounds insane, but…” She looked down at herself, reaching up to run her fingers over the tender flesh where her impalement wound had been. The skin there was still agitated and raw, like a fresh scar had just formed. “I died, I believe. That was the commotion you heard. If you will just—”
“A’right,” huffed Chifre, the rhinoceros in charge of behavior enforcement, as he stepped through the crowd toward her. “Take the Crown off, c’mon.”
Anxiety flipped to annoyance in just a moment, and she straightened her spine stubbornly. “I cannot. I now have a duty to uphold, it seems.”
“No, you don’t. Take it off, or I’ll take it myself. Playtime’s over, kid.”
“I am not a child!”
Her voice boomed through the space, and she would’ve taken notice of how it split apart if it weren’t for the flash of bright red, almost like lightning, that illuminated it all. The light seemed to startle the crowd more than her, as they all scrambled back several feet from the altar, eyes blown wide.
They… weren’t looking at her.
Kaliaphra turned, slowly, and looked up to the front wall of the temple.
Over the wood and stained glass, there resided a massive shadow, one of distinct silhouette, stretching across the pulpit floor to the wall and traveling up to touch the ceiling. The body, with its tall feline ears and glowing trio of eyes, was incredibly familiar to Kali herself. Its limbs, clearly defined as skeletal and crude, extended over the walls and arched across the temple floor. There, the claws of bone hovered around the place where the deer stood, as if claiming her—his plaything, perhaps.
Separate from the shadow, Kaliaphra was graced with the whisper of feeling bone brush her cheek. It was a distant mockery of sentiment, but it made her heart leap into her throat all the same.
“Stand tall, my vessel,” the voice of The One Who Waits purred into her ear. “They will learn to fear you in time.”
Then, with another flash of red light, it was all gone. Kali and the others were left standing in an empty temple, shellshocked at what had just occurred.
They stared at her, no longer annoyed, but hesitant. As if they didn’t know what to do.
Across the crowd, Kaliaphra’s gaze finally found her cousin’s, meeting eyes wide in something between awe and terror. He ran his gaze over her form, inspecting her, she thought, hesitating on the blood stain on her shirt, then the glowing crown, and then back to meet her eyes in turn, looking for something, the same safety they’d promised one another for years.
Then, finding it, whatever he was looking for, his expression calmed, pride replacing the fear as a grin stretched over his cheeks. He bent his knee, head still raised, unwilling to break her gaze, yet folding over nevertheless.
A bow, she realized. He is bowing. To… to me?
“My Fawn,” Theanno called.
The followers nearest to him looked back, murmurs rippling through them, noises and expressions flickering wildly between surprise and… uncertainty, perhaps, before looking back to the crown that now rested on her brow. 
Then, with the same subtle confidence, one follower after another bent at the knee, their gazes turning to the ground. 
“My Fawn.”
“My Fawn.”
“My Fawn!”
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alex-kyanite · 3 months ago
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Zelva and Cliff enjoying a morning walk in the woods!
Saw this bridge a month or so ago and I knew it’d make for a pretty background. I just had to draw it once ArtFight was done. 👀
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