image [https://i.imgur.com/FbMXIuj.png]

A small tapping of a setting claw rung throughout the room. Upon two slender legs the thing approached. The dark blue could almost not be seen as the striking green invaded the image of the room, to each color a vivid shimmer from a light that was not there. The long neck ended in a small and rounded head with a beak short and sharp. The neck curled down and the head turned to investigate. The other foot now led and the claws once again rung a sound like the pinging of a soft bell. The beak opened.

"Why so in such a form do we meet? I'll ask but once more, what of everything are you?"

The question perplexed her, she thought that she might finally have lost her sense from the pain. But undeniably, the thing before her took the shape and visage of her god, at least as she knew him. Hearing the voices of the gods was the realm of the mad and the legendary. She hoped dearly that she was neither. But something felt so real, so sincere. So beautiful. Hoping away madness and condemnation to some tall tale, she hoped that the god she saw was real. Her voice filled with conviction as she spoke.

"I am Tannen Braia. Paladin to his grace the Peacock."

The head shrunk back from her, stepping away to see her fully. He recognized something. Her blurred vision became so clear as he pulled away. Seeing now the feathers and short wings, the dark decals and highlights made now by them. Again, the Peacock spoke.

"You... are mortal? Forgive me for my tone before. When I saw you call for me I saw you... In a way that only a god may be seen."

"I, am no god."

She spoke. The Peacock answered.

"That is true. Which brings forth the question of how you could call upon me as a god would, you shined a way that deities do. How is this?"

Tannen held her cheek, rubbing the metal that now sunk within her.

"I do not rightly know, but when I touched this... suddenly when I prayed to you, you answered. In not the way that I know you to answer, but you appeared in front of me, a true avatar of yourself."

"Yes..."

The Peacock held its head away now, the tapping from its movements brought faint church-bells to Tannen's mind, filling her heart with familiarity and comfort. The Peacock climbed the steps of the room, quickly approaching the pedestal. He looked within then quickly moved his gaze to the sloped walls that met within the center, examining the pyramid they found themselves within. His investigations provided him no answers, so he returned to Tannen.

"What is this place?"

Tannen held her ribs below her heart from the pinging pain that was left behind. She shifted as she could to face her god and spoke.

"I do not know... I called to you for aid to help in my escape, but I never thought your grace would appear to me. But, now that you are here-"

"-You know that there is nothing I can do."

He swiftly moved to her, sitting beside her and meeting her face. He looked upon her again, fully grasping the weight of her injuries.

"Why then did you call for me? Of all the gods to help you, you've condemned yourself to die in placing your faith in me."

Sorrow leaked from every word he spoke, guilt held every breath he took. For whatever power he had, he had never seen a person die. Let alone someone who had put their whole and complete faith within him. Except for...

"You are my god, who else am I to call out to. My strength, my conviction, I draw it from you."

She spoke softly to him.

"If I am to die, may it at least be under your watch."

He looked at her in silence for a time in wait. No words came to him, no questions worth asking. Asking them would be a waste of what precious time she had left.

"If it brings you comfort then. I will wait by your side."

Tannen smiled, content in her final moments awake. Her eyes closed while her head fell to the side.

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After a moment, her chest rose as it drew in a long breath. Unburdened by the conscious pain, she breathed. He looked away to the door from which she entered and began to think.

Nothing here was familiar to him, everything was wholly alien in its construction. No marking or mural denoted to who this strange temple was dedicated too. The artifact that his paladin had so desperately reached out to was unknown to him.

He continued to pace across the room, investigating its intricacies and corners, searching for any clue beyond its shape. At times he would return to the paladin to listen for her breathing. He decided that whence she finally passed, someday he would send another to find her body, and to give it a proper burial. He knew with no doubt, even if he had only felt a small connection to her, that she was truly devoted to her. Already he mourned for someone who championed the beauty of the world to be felled in such a dark and dreary place.

The longer he waited, the more he would question how this came about. He wondered what compelled her to venture into such a strange crypt. What was it that had struck her down. Try as he might, for now at least without leaving the world entirely, he could not leave the confines of the room. Whatever the strange artifact was that was embedded within her, it made her seem like another of the gods when he first approached, and now within its presence he felt more in control. He saw the world more clearly then he once could, though here there was not much for him to admire. Whatever it was, it anchored him to the world in a way that would in most cases require great effort on his part.

After some hours of waiting, unfruitful in his search for answers, he heard the rustling of cloth. He turned to find Tannen re-awakening upon the steps.

"You live?"

Her eyes widened as she rose.

"Perhaps you will continue to live. You may have stopped your bleeding in time. Drink what you have, regain your strength."

Stumbling and shaking, a hand reached within and around the pack that lay beside her. Tannen finally grasped her water skin and drank from it. She continued to drink as the Peacock spoke.

"If you would stand, you may have chance to escape this place."

"Of... course."

Tannen set aside her pouch. She twisted to her stomach, pushing against the slimy and dirty stone beneath her. She began to rise.

"You need not force yourself-"

Tannen cut him off.

"It is your will, I haven't the choice."

Both feet finally beneath her, she stretched her back and bathed her lungs with the rancid and stale air. Looking down again, she bent again for her water skin. Groaning in pain but pressing forward, she brought the pouch to her lips and drank the last of what fresh water she had.

"Seeing your wound, it was no natural circumstance that led you here. What did this?"

She responded sheepishly.

"Yet again, a question I fail to answer. I do not know their name, but I know that they take the shape of a man, with the flesh of a fish."

"Some creatures of those kind are with a soul. Did you do something to anger them?"

"Perhaps, one could almost speak, but they were nearer to beasts."

"Could you fight them once again?"

Without any hesitation she answered.

"Yes."

"Could you win?"

"..."

Another question, failed to answer. He spoke to her.

"Then..."

His feet began to tap upon the ground yet again as he slowly approached her.

"Though I could do nothing for your wounds, there is something I can do now. Something that may turn the tide for you."

He stood at her side, coming short of her elbow. His head turned, pointing to the door.

"Show it to me. My second gift. Crafted by the beaver and the finest weapon within the bounds of this world."

Tannen nodded with firm agreement as she approached the door. Upon the floor to the side, a new light glowed where she had so carelessly tossed it aside. She knelt to grab its splendor. She turned back to the Peacock holding it with care now. She returned to him and presented it to him. The jet black beak approached the blade with a balletic kiss. When it was touched, an orange glow erupted from the guard of the weapon.

"The Feathered Edge, this opulent blade was made to protect that which the wielder finds most beautiful in the world. But now, with a power I have not had in some time, I bestow to it a new function. And a new purpose."

Transfixed by the blade, Tannen could not pull her eyes away from it as the Peacock spoke. The glow so much like the sun bathed her in a warmth she had not felt in many days. For what only felt like a moment the glow suddenly vanished and her eyes met again with the Peacock's.

"When you shine the Feathered Edge, any who see it will be so consumed with its brilliance that they may do nothing but to look upon it. But be warned, without a strong will to fight its allure, you will remain vulnerable to its effects as well."

Tannen looked back down to the blade hoping it might again draw her in. She spoke as she revered the weapon.

"Then what am I to do?"

"Fight. Have faith in yourself that you might overcome it. With no small bit of irony, you must ignore that which is beautiful, as opposed to what you have so far dedicated yourself to doing."

He tilted his head one way and then another, speaking again with more hope.

"Or perhaps think instead that you must appreciate everything around it as much as you appreciate the weapon itself."

"Is there nothing else to be done."

"I am not the Komodo of war, nor the Bear of strength. This is my weapon, and the extent of my power. If you cannot have faith in yourself, then have faith in me. Have faith in me who places his faith in you."

Though the beak could not move or shift, she could feel a smile of pride upon the bird. She nodded. The Peacock turned to the sky with his entirety, seeing something beyond the walls that confine them.

"Twice this day, I suppose."

He turned back to Tannen with a final parting message.

"If you are to escape, make your way to Libare. There, the first of my gifts wait. With its rediscovery, perhaps you may spread the love of all that is beautiful to the rest of the world. That the world might remember my name."

"My home is in Libare."

Hope erupted in her words as the idea of returning home overcame her, now not only for herself, but for her god. The Peacock lowered his head in a nod, his feathers spread. Just as quickly, he suddenly disappeared.

"Then run home, Tannen Braia. The Mouse calls to me, but I feel that when you escape, you will finally be safe."

She nodded to no-one, and turned back to the door. She approached as slow as she would dare. Still stinging from the pain of the blade in her ribs, and the claws in her shoulder, and the ground upon her back. Pressing through the pain and the murky air, she grabbed hold of the handle within the door. She turned the handle.