"It has been two weeks since the discovery of the Foci. Its appearance was far from our expectations, but there can be no doubting our god's will. The storm, divine judgement since age primeval, coalesced into human form as an avatar of death. The end, a fate shared by us all."
Two people clad in black rested within a tent. The speaker was a pale, scarred tall woman with long raven hair, standing and recounting events. The hearer was a younger man, fresh-faced with medium-length hair as red as flame, sitting and dutifully scratching upon parchment every word spoken.
"Don't you think this is a little too dramatic?" the young man nervously inquired, during the brief pause taken to dip quill in ink.
"It is truth." is all the older woman retorts, a scowl leveled with her single eye at the undesired remark.
Shriveling under the intense ire, the red-haired man decided against speaking further, such was his fear of his superior in the Storm Followers. The silence lingered a few moments longer, tension growing, but before it had the chance to reach its peak and panic to descend: A face suddenly, boldly inserted itself through the tent's entrance.
"Char, Blaze, have you seen Eve?" asked a woman with pale violet hair, a tad younger still than the red-haired Blaze, barely out of his teen years himself.
"The Foci, Lilac. Are you telling me that it has gone missing during your shift?" Char asked in kind as she whirled on her feet to face the youthful acolyte, whose name like so many in the collective was self-chosen after their hair's colour. Representing a past discarded and replaced anew.
"Of course not!" was the last word spoken, as the energetic Lilac disappeared as quickly as she arrived, sensing immediately the leader's patience had already grown thin. Without even needing to watch Char pinch her own nose in frustration soon after, grip strong enough that it threatened to remove the protrusion.
Already knowing the shift in priority, Blaze set aside the quill and arose to his feet, giving the ink time to dry. Although he was the only one among the thirty who was literate, a trait that was scarce in their corner of the world, he still had to do his fair share of physical tasks.
"I'll go find he- It. We can't return empty-handed now…" he stuttered out, knowing the leader's insistence on referring to the discovery with the same terms as their scripture defined. Although his own dubiousness as to whether or not they are truly one in the same does not go unnoticed.
"We can't leave the storm's eye beyond our own, no. As inconvenient as it may be, it is our role to assist the herald in reaching its full potential." Char breathed out amidst a sigh of exasperation. Recalling how the scriptures debated whether the Foci would appear fully grown and prepared to perform its duty of bringing about the last days, or would take the form of a child and need to be nurtured before fulfilling its fate. She never expected what appeared to be a mixture of both.
Blaze meanwhile hurried out to do his duty, not wishing to wait long enough for the chastising that would inevitably follow in regards to his choice of phrase and lack of conviction. Instead hurrying out of the tent, hastily pulling up the hood of his cloak as he does so.
- - -
The Storm Followers, one faction among many in a collective cult worshiping Tempest, God of Violent Weather, and in older interpretations: Divine Punishment and Destruction. The prevailing doctrine linking the cult's factions together, is of the Cleansing Storm. A fabled planet-encompassing weather phenomenon that will bring about the end of days. Mountain-shattering lightning strikes rending apart the most powerful creations of civilisation in moments, forest-leveling gales blowing aside all of life's meager resistance, and ocean-filling torrential rains that will flood what remains and wash it away. Leaving only a clean slate behind from which a better creation of the gods, may begin anew.
The belief in such an event, and the desire to bring it about, was naturally met by the greater population with controversy, scorn, and eventually opposition. All of its followers therefore must exert the utmost caution in concealing their identities, lest they be hunted, imprisoned, and executed. Existence ended in short order, without remorse. The only fate awaiting for those of their faith.
A fate either unbeknownst to, or uncared by, Lilac who ran across the length and width of the encampment with her hood down. Carefree smile clear for all to see in the light of the shining sun, especially emboldened by the disappointed expressions of her peers being hidden from view. Peers going about their own business, preparing to finish their break by taking the tents down and readying to march on.
Despite her happy-go-lucky demeanour, such only belied the devotion to which she committed to her tasks for the good of her fellow followers. After all, it was during the prior shift when Eve went missing, and not her own. Eve being a name whispered among the younger, less strict members of the Storm Followers to refer to the ashen maiden. A name only Lilac was bold enough to use freely.
A name which spread very quickly after the events of the night a fortnight ago. When the five, Char chief among them, returned with the Foci stumbling in tow and recounted what they found. Mainly nothing, save it, which seemed to follow solely out of it's own curiosity than any efforts at persuasion or command. A name which the older generation refused to use, perceiving it as distracting from the Foci's purpose.
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Although the entity never gave the title of Foci much notice, the word Eve gathered a modicum of active attention, Lilac found during her past shifts. Easing somewhat the efforts to try and convey to her to rein in the aura of decay that she emitted. A strange enough ability by itself according to conventional understanding of the supernatural, constant and passive without any apparent will or effort required to bring about. A type of ability assumed by most, only to be possessed by gods and their most unwieldy creations, monsters.
The rarity of the trait did not help the attempts to coach the being into limiting it, but eventually progress was made, now only affecting objects in direct physical contact. Which still made clothing arrangements difficult, but careful weaving and incorporations of metals more resistant to the process of deterioration made it possible. The awkwardness of much of the cloth floating a few inches from the body, only served to make the outfit and its wearer easier to spot at a glance.
Allowing Lilac after enough interrogation, to finally track Eve down at the outskirts of the camp, staring at a lone dying tree. Seeming to have stood there for some time, given how she had sunk into the ground a few inches as it decayed beneath her.
"Eve!" Lilac called out as she ran over. "We're leaving soon, it's time to come back!" her volume only increased despite closing the distance. Though Eve didn't appear to pay it any mind, focused only on what was in front of her.
Until a spark flew from her bolt, and with a jerk, one foot wrenched itself from the ground, followed by the other, and she moved to be directly next to the tree, just as Lilac caught up beside her. As tempted as Lilac was to place a hand on Eve's shoulder to get her attention, she knew better after the last pair of gloves ruined and skin nearly lost in the attempt. So she watched, and waited.
Eve's arm raised and her hand reached out, making a hole in the cloth of the sheet-like cloak she wore that was in her way, and lightly pressed against the tree. Then into the tree, one inch, two, until the hand retracted, and Eve looked down at it. Watching as the flakes of wood and dirt that came off turned to dust, disappearing into nothingness in her palm. Her expression blank, thoughts indiscernible.
"Eve, there are going to be more trees on the way back. Better ones. This isn't a great area really, a lot of trouble here." Lilac explained, having a vague awareness of the state of the nation they were in at the moment. Knowing there was a pressing need for haste.
After a few seconds, they seemed to finally note Lilac's presence, turning to face her. Leveling her gaze, translucent eyes backlit by a current glowing pale violet at the moment. Before swapping quickly to a reddish hue, as she turned to look at the tree once more.
"There you are! We have to leave in ten minutes!" the black hooded individual shouted as they sprinted toward the pair, out of breath voice unmistakably that of Blaze.
"We're coming, we're coming! How did you get here so quickly anyway?" Lilac shouted back, irritation by the perceived progress being intruded upon, replaced by confusion at that fact.
"The trail of dead grass her footprints leave! How did it take you so long?" Blaze called back, flabbergasted. Watching as Lilac's gaze turned to the floor to finally notice the obvious trail, before quickly pulling up her hood and turning away to hide the embarrassment.
Eve continued to stare at the tree as the exchange between reluctant friends went on, apparently ignoring as the question of why nobody stopped her was asked, and the retort of how given physical contact causes a missing hand was shot back. Mouth opening once Blaze's steps had stopped, seldom though she spoke, such movements were far less strained in recent days nonetheless.
"Good bye." did the words leave Eve's mouth today, one of the rare exceptions, directed at the tree with a polite tone. Catching off-guard the pair, as she promptly turned around, and walked back to camp on her own.
"... I still never know what that girl is thinking." Lilac chuckled with a small shake of her head. Believing herself to likely be the one who understood the new arrival the best, and that being not at all.
"I still don't know why we brought her along. Whatever she is, it's none of our business." Blaze confessed tiredly in return. His mind only occupied by how unusual the situation was, and inconvenient.
"Are you still going on about that?" Lilac's head turned suddenly with a displeased countenance. "I'm not sure about the Foci stuff either, but it's not like she's a burden or anything. She doesn't even eat! Or drink! Or sleep now that I think about it…"
"Meaning she is prone to wandering all day and night." he retorted with dry observation. "And I don't care about rations. There's something… Unsettling about her. About all of this."
"Is it the bolt?" she blithely checked.
"It's more than the Tempest-damned bolt!" Blaze exploded back. "This entire thing, it's not our place to meddle in, I know it." before his energy quickly faded, head dropping. "We've stuck our nose where it doesn't belong and we're going to suffer because of it."
"You're always like this. Stop being such a worrywart. She seems just fine to me." Lilac said as she patted him on the shoulder.
Blaze looked at her, face glum at his point either being missed or ignored. His mouth opened, then closed. And with one last shake of the head and a weary sigh, he said:
"Let's just head back. Before Char finds more reasons to get mad at us."
"Whatever you say, scholar boy."
"Please don't call me that."
With one last pat on the back that nearly knocked Blaze over, he walked on with a grinning Lilac quickly overtaking him, back toward where the camp once stood. Now only distant figures waiting for their stragglers. Both following in the dark of Eve's long shadow, cast in the wake of the setting sun."