"Practically speaking a god and an Aspect is the same thing. Refering to a powerful being who compared to us is so much more powerful, that we mortals naturally perceive them as divine. Yet few people under the Divine Court would ever refer to their deities as gods. The difference sprouts from the theological argument put forward by every head of each Divine Cult that members of the Divine Court are ultimately different than simple gods as they are not only the creators of Niuran but they are also the aspects of this world. Calling an Aspect a god near a Faithfull is an invitation to receive a blackeye as you would be comparing the infallible creator of an aspect of this world to a being which was birth on Niuran."
A note given to a Geni'i ambassador by a Sophist before his first mission to Havenfall.
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The two women entered the cave with a small fire dancing on a pile of slowly burning silk. As the two walked toward the small light they left behind wet footprints as their soaked clothes slowly purged the cold water from their fabric. Halfway to the campfire the old nekos began to undress leaving only her boots on as the cold water quickly stole away her heat, she wasn't in any danger of hypothermia as her high constitution gave her ample time to rest near the fire and dry off but walking with cold, wet clothes felt awful.
She looked backwards and saw that the elf seemed to not be bothered by her body which caused the nekos to sulk internally as she was denied the image of the frowning undead turning red from embarrassment.
Tiny strands of silk rose into the air as the two women walked past the fire disturbing its peaceful existence, pulled up by the warm air rising above the fire before disappearing into nothingness. Shiro began to wring the water out of her clothes creating a puddle of water under her feet.
"Thought, elves were meant to be more civilised then the likes of me?" Shiro said as she noticed that the undead elf was also undressing with no signs of shame.
"Am I an elf?" The undead pointed out as she took the opportunity to clean her equipment with practised grace.
"Well, you must have been an elf at one point," The old demi-human retorted. "I can tell you are iffy on speaking on why are you here since you dodge that question the last time but can you say something about yourself?" Shiro turned her head to glance at the diligently working undead, curious about her story.
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"Is this related to my training?" Iris's tone which rarely changed when speaking to anyone except the short necromancer appeared to let a hint of curiosity seep into her words.
"Not with training a warrior lives alone." The beast woman mimicked how the elf beside her talked and watched how the elf would react. *Sigh* "You're a tough nut to crack. Come on, I'm an old woman who wants to hear an interesting story before practicing with you again."
"Old?"
"I starting to hate you now." The flustered cat hissed at the evil undead.
"I think I can live with that."
"Very funny, are you entertained by making fun of me?"
"No offence but I prefer teasing Kia over anyone else."
"Understandable." The nekos replied after seeing that her plan didn't work out. "I guess I have to wait until Tei comes back."
"When will Kia be back?"
"Don't know," The beast woman laid out all of her clothes on the stone before standing up and bringing her sleeping back closer to the fire. "Could be that tomorrow they will step out of that tunnel or they come back next month. Who knows." Her words caused the elf to stop as she bit her lower lip in concern causing her blood to pool around her teeth.
"Hello?"
The concerned elf caused Shiro to also grow a bit worried over the safety of her ward before she slapped herself. The undead seemed to be radiating an aura of torment which somehow was affecting herself which really shouldn't happen unless the undead's torment triggered the effect itself.
The white-furred nekos stood up and grabbed both her and the elf's spear. Her spear albeit looted from a high-level dungeon felt worst in her hands than the spear the elf owned. She preferred the somewhat top-heavy design with wide edges at the side very much like her previous spear. The glass-like metal forming the wide head of Iris's spear glowed weakly with purple light indicating to the nekos that the spear was enchanted in some way. She flicked the black glass with her fingers trying to see if the enchantment would react to her to no effect. Unsurprisingly, she saw that stunty's hands were responsible for making such a fine weapon albeit her own spear was of superior craft.
Although the type of her current spear wasn't her favourite, with perfectly balanced proportions and a sturdy rectangular shape head which couldn't be used for anything else other than stabbing it was still a spear found at the end of a high-level dungeon which increased her dexterity considerably. She still missed the days when she could use her spear somewhat like a glaive against lightly armoured targets when a situation called for it which she could still do with her current spear although she had to be extremely precise while doing so but the ability to outspeed almost anyone with her attacks and being able to be sure she will pierce the armour in the enemies weak point outweighed the few drawbacks.
The naked demi-human flipped both of the spears around simultaniously before silently approaching the elf. Lifting the haft of Iris's spear above her head before letting it fall down Shiro broke the spell afflicting the undead.
"What was that for?" The tall undead stood up while massaging the top of her head, not sounding hurt by demi's unconventional hex-breaking method.
"I wanted to rest but I see if I don't beat your worry out of you, you will go mad over nothing." Shiro said as she threw Iris a spear.
"We are going to sparr naked?"
"Are you an elf?" The nekos retorted while she walked toward the empty part of the cave.