Mara awoke to the sun in her eyes and mud on her back, this was not where she expected to be. However, it was much nicer than feeling the hot embrace of death shooting towards her not too long ago. The smell of mud and wet animals was pungent in her nose and the squelching she heard as she moved made her cringe, but still better, slightly. Finally opening her eyes, the blue sky greeted her with clouds of pastel hues of green and blue, interesting.
She started getting up feeling the akes and pains of strain seeping into her, wondering how a bodiless battle could sink into her bones. She shook the thought aside and stood seeing the area, a sigh of relief slipping out of her. Thankfully it was a quiet place: filled with rolling hills of purple flowers as far as her eyes could see. The bird song was far away and energetic, and there was not much in the way of ground life to be easily seen. All in all, a large mud hole in the middle of nowhere. It was strange though, as she moved forward to kneel in front of a dead Bovine humanoid, the ground smelled of mushrooms.
She looked outward as she tapped the unmoving body with her fingers, trying to see if there was any habitat the small fruit bodies could be hiding, but nothing. She looked back down to slowly watch as pale blue skin revitalized to deepen into a shade of Lapis Lazuli. Her skin was dotted with small green glowing freckles, and her shining yellow hair was in the form of intricate box braids. She was a beautiful woman.
With a start she breathed in deeply and opened her eyes. Mara swiveled to the side before her shoulder could be snatched, and her now awake guest barrel rolled away and jumped up. They locked eyes and the horned being stood crouched low waiting for an attack.
“A bit slow.” Mara quipped.
A snort came. “I wish I could have done better, but I’m afraid too much sleep has made me rusty.” The crouching figure said, slowly standing to a towering height. Her hulking body was now fully on display: muscles refined and defined, once scarred fur legs tight and ready to spring into action. She was a monster waiting to act. Mara smirked, not many people had escaped her grasp before. Let alone to tell the tail of it from how she looked. Not only that, she had woken from a heavy incantation from what Mara could surmise, and she barely missed a beat before becoming battle ready. It was truly impressive to see.
“May I ask your name, strange traveler? Forgive me for the wariness but I’ve never seen your kind before, and I’ve lived long enough to know most creatures in Zadica.”
Zadica, So that's their name.
"Would it surprise you if I said I'm not from around here?" She answered. I don't think I should even be here. She thought to herself, still checking her body for any rampant energies that nasty entity had shot at her. But that wasn't true either. It was strange, as she probed her spirit more a connection had been formed between her and the land she stood on, almost as if anchoring her to it.
The woman stared at her thoughtfully, her piercing green eyes trying to punch through to Mara’s secrets with no avail. For a slender creature, Mara had some weight to her and it would take more than a glare to pierce her hide.
"It wouldn't," the woman finally said, her stance changing into a more relaxed posture and her eyes became more curious than hostile. "I can assume that you were the one who lifted me from sleep?"
Mara nodded and the woman bowed her head. "Thank you, forgive my aggression, but me and my brethren were locked in battle before you came."
Mara slid her eyes away from the battle lord to the field of war torn people before her. Hundreds of bloodied and battered bovine humanoids laid sprawled in horrifying shapes asleep. "Asleep" these people lay more like corpses with wounds and death blow gashes riddling their forms. Leather and woven blue fabric garb ripped and stained from the bloodshed of war. She looked back at the woman before her and noticed the hole in her chest piece and blue shirt, as if a predator had taken a bite right out of her torso. If it wasn't for the small energy signatures of living spirits in their body, Mara would have left these husks of people to her spores.
She shook the thought from her mind, her brow thick with held back questions, ready to go to work. She walked through the people, the azure woman following slowly behind. To a normal person Mara only walked and touched the Bovani warriors where they lay, going from one to the next as if to check their bodies briefly as she moved. Auset on the other hand watched her as if every move and breath were being analyzed following Mara's steps with expectation.
Mara called back behind her. "Is this your first time seeing magic, Lapis?"
The warrior gave her a distasteful look before watching her movements again. "You may call me Auset, Matriarch of the Bovani, and no this is just my first time seeing yours." She snorted contemptuously.
Mara smiled at that. "Well I'd say it's a rare sight, but it's a big world out there." And as she touched the last person, a copper haired Bovani, stout with an ax embedded in his skull, Mara snapped her fingers and their bodies began to glow.
Auset did not startle easy, she had fought a 20 year war that had shown her many of the darkest horrors in her life. Some of those were committed by her in the heat of battle. Still the rolling and jerking of her glowing countrymen was definitely in the top 5 of her worst. That was even above the Leonid King being turned into a stump. If it weren't for the wounds on their bodies closing before her eyes, Auset would think this was Serqian acid eating away at their bodies. It was so strange how this creature's healing magic looked so violent.
Then the first gasps came and one after another Bovani shuddered to life. Many jumped up, battle ready like she had done. Others bellowed war cries in the midst of a death blow and still others barked and wailed at long ago attacks on themselves or unseen enemies. This sleep had been sudden and so the war they fought still felt real.
It wasn’t until the Battle Queen herself bellowed her victory cry the fighting tension fell out of their bodies. They looked around to see the faces of their comrades. They touched each other's faces and arms. Rubbing them where old scars and bruises had suddenly vanished, and youthful faces greeted each other like old friends.
“Has a great miracle of Aurum finally graced us?” Came a young Bovani man with hair and haunches the color of charcoal. He looked to Auset with softness in his eyes and she looked stricken as she saw him.
“Lanith?” She rushed at his calm, swaying form and tackled him to the ground, knocking the wind right out of him. She drew his long black hair away from his face before cradling it in her hands. “Is this truly you?”
The young man looked at her with tears sparkling at the edge of his eyes before giving her a kiss. “Well if not you'll have to kick my teeth in for that.” From this small act, 20 years of tears and grief shook out of the Bovani Matriarch.
Mara, on the other hand, had slunk back behind the war force right before they had fully risen. She watched as Auset had calmed them and then wrestled down one of her men. Though from the look of it this violence was one of her love languages, and Mara waited patiently as the people reunited with their awoken brethren. It had been a little while since she’d seen a force of people so bloodthirsty and battle torn. Not since before projectiles and explosives had been invented in her world.
But the weapons were strange considering they looked more like farming equipment. Shovels and Scythes, picks and axes had been strewn alongside the bodies all covered in deep blackened blood. Yet there had been no sign of tarnish or rust as her spores ate it all away. The taste of them seemed strange as well, close to tungsten and cobalt but – harder, more resilient.
The wails of the Matriarch brought her back to the task at hand and Mara started thinking of how to present herself to these people. Revealing herself as is was out of the question after realizing her kind hadn't come to this place yet. However, standing out wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but familiarity just felt smart. So why not become one of the people? Her facial features would stay similar so Auset would recognize her, however her colors would have to change.
And Aurum, the name that young man had said. It would be working off of a hunch, but Mara felt like she should choose inspiration off of that name. Her mind made up, she started her transformation.
On her heart shaped face her nose flattened and widened, her eyes became a little larger and more almond shaped. A small pink line connected between her new snout and lips and she sank in most of her freckle like spores to show a cream colored skin. Then she molded her legs into that of a cow hind: with fur a couple inches long like that of the Bovani. She grew three inches taller to match shoulder height with Auset, making her the smallest one there. Then the fur and hair, changing from her favorite bright red, to a shimmering gold and for added flavor, she let her bioluminous spores show through adding small golden luminescence to her skin.
She flexed her new legs, feeling the power behind them of a beast who could dash through field and forest at an eased pace. The shimmering gold fur not only covering from ankle to navel, but also over her chest area leaving no real need for clothing. Truly, she realized, these people wore clothes only for the benefit of culture and war, which made her very curious about the fashion here.
Then she stepped out towards the healed and celebrating war force of the Bovani people. In this moment she remembered the words of her mother. When you present yourself to others show them power and strength, stability and calm. That you are a force of change. These words clung to her in this moment and ignited her steps forwards.
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She would not kowtow, she would not shrink away, these were men and women of battle and respected confidence. Then she did what she always had done in these situations. She yelled to the leaders of great people and strode up to them like they were old friends.
As she sauntered up through, the Bovani warriors saw her and lowered their faces kneeling before her. Mara gave a gentle smile and took this as a sign of good fortune. She felt well received until she stood in front of the Bovani pair still sitting on the ground. Shock and bewilderment was stuck to the young man's face and unabashed disbelief on Auset’s. She held the face for so long Mara started to feel like she had made a mistake, and a slight tinge of red mottled her cheeks before speaking.
"Auset, Matriarch of the Bovani and War chieftess I have lifted you and your people from your long dormancy as a gift to your people."
The young man at her side turned and kneeled in front of her then bent his head to touch his forearm as if shielding his gaze from a bright light. "Oh gracious guardian, you have arisen us after a most devastating battle, your humble student gives great thanks to your generosity."
Mara smiled kindly at the gesture and touched his elbow so he would raise his head. "Please stand, it is an honor to behold such strong warriors and it is better to see the face of a student than the tip of his head."
The young man looked up, a little confused but stood up at once. "By the guardians decree I shall stand."
The rest of the war party got off their knees as well looking at their chieftess with wary eyes. Auset nodded at them and they dispersed to find their gear still shooting backward glances at the golden haired Bovani. It was then Mara felt the warm breath on her hair as a furious Auset bored angry eyes into the side of her. Daring to glance over, Mara saw green daggers and regretted her earlier choices even more.
She coughed before looking back at Lanith. He was a lithe man with well defined features and muscle. He didn’t have much in the way of armor which made her surmise, along with calling himself her student, that he was the medic of the party. His long black hair was mostly put back in an intricate braid with small amounts of hair hanging around his face. His square jaw complimented his wide set smile: giving him a kind, trustworthy face. It was a good look for a healer, someone you could look at and instantly trust, it was a very good tool when you had screaming patients to deal with.
“It is good to know you are all back to health, may I know the healer’s name of this group?”
Lanith bowed slightly again before striking a grin, “Your grace I am Lanith, Mystic of the Golden Lotus.” Then he looked proudly over at the seething blue mass to his side. “And partner to the great Matriarch Auset. I am humbly at your service if you ever need it, and I also lovingly ask that my dear partner does not try to fight this holy one for whatever reason.” He added as Auset’s face started to slowly turn purple between the two of them.
Auset looked at Lanith and deflated, but only slightly. “Forgive me, dear one, I forget myself. I will go find Star Gorger and check on the men.” She turned suddenly and trotted away.
Lanith let out a light sigh, “Forgive her, normally she is not so hostile.”
Mara took a deep breath and shook her head in Auset’s direction. “I found you all in a war zone frozen in time, I’m not surprised she’s angry at everything right now, it looked like you were losing and that can be hard on a leader.”
Lanith nodded at her words. “It was worse than you say, we had been fighting for 2 years on this battle front by the time Aurum’s great slumber took us. Most of us were already in tatters, and my energy was tapped to the point of barely sealing wounds half way.”
“You were buried by your enemies?” Mara asked.
He shook his head, “You can't be buried when you do not die, right? You just wait for the black star to consume you and every moment before is just agony from anticipation.”
Unable to understand his words, Mara held her gaze on Lanith’s now seeing an ancient man through his haggard expression. As if remembering those moments brought age to him that she had just snuffed out.
“But at the last moment, when their hungry maws were about to consume us all, snow fell and banished the lions out of our lands and sent us into a slumber.” He looked out at the purple fields, past the wet dirt they still stood on, his face now made of stone. His bright smile faded into a hard set jaw. “I heard the battle cry of our earth that day right before my eyes shut and my link to Aurum faded away.” There was a long moment of silence between the two of them. Both staring out into the now setting sun over the rolling hills.
Mara felt an unexpected darkness fall onto her, an anger and sadness that ate at her stomach as she looked at the land in front of her. She felt the anchor of this land unimaginable grief piercing into her heart. “Do not worry brother, let the site of me give you strength and know that your earth will be whole again.”
Lanith looked at her and nodded, and his smile came back to him a little more tired this time. "I feel the touch of Aurum is strong in you, and your presence fuels the mending of my connection to him and my people."
Then he left her to check on the others, his footsteps barely settled in the mud when Auset strode back up next to her. She too stood in silence for a long moment, as if drinking in her surroundings before speaking to Mara. “So you can shape yourself, was that even your true self I saw before?”
Mara sighed and dropped back into her natural cadence, the strain of the day's events finally catching up to her. “Truly does it matter what I am as long as I help your people?”
The Matriarch rolled her jaw around as if tasting those words. “What matters to me is your intentions with us, there hasn’t been such a thing as free land for over 800 seasons. And as I look out on this sea of purple, all I see is poison. Then you show up and heal us all miraculously as if the Great Aurum has asked you a favor, what am I supposed to do with that?” She turned away from the rolling hills giving Mara a tainted light to them now. “And so conveniently you have turned into the shape of our most prized disciples of Aurum. A guardian of the people who nobly saved us. It’s quite the coincidence don’t you think?”
Honestly Mara didn’t know what to say to these accusations, and in all fairness to Auset she was acting under a guise to be more appealing. However, “I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on, Auset. I was being truthful when I said this world is new to me, and foreign. A little to foreign for my liking and I was hoping that with reviving you and your people I might learn more about what is going on.”
“And for Brann's right hand, what is going on with this dirt?” Her face scrunched up once more as another whiff of musky wet hit her nose. “This entire mud patch smells like mushrooms and I can’t place my hellfire finger on it.”
“The smell? If you mean the odor of our transformation then yes, this is that smell.” Auset said matter factly, as if this was a known phenomenon. Then she smiled at the smaller Bovani. “That’s right, in this form it slipped my mind you know nothing of our culture. This is going to be a habit for me I suppose.”
Mara looked dryly at her and Auset kept going. “When a Bovani, or anyone of this world wishes to take a rest but not leave from here: they enter a form of slumber, the Oomtep is what my people call it. One will lay on the ground at night, call out to the Aurum for rest, and wait for the snow to fall on them. As it touches your skin you start to feel sleep and mushrooms will bloom and consume you. Similar in the way you renewed our bodies, but much less convulsing.” She said the last word a little disgustedly.
Mara chuffed, "If you think that's bad, get me excited."
The assessing gaze met hers and Auset nodded in approval. "Life doesn't get boring around you, does it?"
"Funny I was thinking the same for you."
Auset put on the smirk of a tired warmonger. The face reminding Mara of a man she long ago knew who conquered millions of people. For most of his life he commanded armies and lorded over all uncontested. Though when he told his stories of all his great campaigns, he was rung dry from all his experiences. Auset needed a long rest and Mara felt that she wouldn't be getting one for a while in her company.
For the rest of the night Mara asked Auset endless questions of their lands and people. What their culture was like and food. How her people made a living and were their neighboring people. But what she wondered most was what life before the war was like.
"Aurum’s horn, I've almost forgotten what free fields look like.” Auset mused. “When Bovani roamed these lands fully, our people grew many beautiful foods and kept domestic and wild beasts. We were called cultivators, for when Aurum took us out of the ground and gave us names we felt the purpose to grow and love the earth we came from." She looked at Lanith. "And in return our Earth loved us back, giving us the ability to shape grasses and trees alike, truly our old vessels, into new species of plants. This gave us the ability to do many things, but after we came out of the ground we could not go back in."
Mara’s head cocked to the side. "Why?"
Auset pointed at her partner as he walked around, now triple checking the warriors. "My husband says, a price was paid when we left the Earth and Aurum paid it with his own spirit. Personally I find that very odd, but Lanith believes Aurum did it out of true kindness to us," She put her hand in the now dry earth. "but I feel there is something missing in me, a loss that I cannot quite place. There were moments in my long sleep where my consciousness moved into the earth and I was able to feel below the topsoil and move deep into the ground. Those were the moments I felt truly whole."
Mara nodded silently, not wanting Auset to stop. She wasn't surprised to hear the Bovani felt intune with the earth considering their original state came from it. It was only natural to feel complete being reconnected with your roots.
Auset kept going. "It is said that when Aurum came to this land, he fell from the sky. His large hoof hitting the oceans and leaving his print on the land. This is why a river runs through this place, because the only space for water to flow was between his massive toes. But I don't think so." She looked at Mara's visage, but not at her.
"The ones' who spread these tails are known as the Baladons, like my husband. They are Bovani blessed with an affinity for understanding the healing traits of the earth and plants and how to use them on people, and then,"
She ground her jaw back and forth, chewing on her words before speaking. "Then there are the Zebians, Bovain who have cultivated and truly integrated with the earth fully to understand the secrets of fully connecting with the Aurum. Taking on his golden fur and growing smaller and denser from the energies they have consolidated from their years of toil. They are supposed to be the shining example of what we all aspire to be, connected once more to our body, the earth."
She snorted, hot steam rolling out from her nostrils and looked deep into Mara's eyes. This time her piercing gaze made it to her as her words dug into her now. "And this was the body you decided to take. So I ask you once more, strange traveler. May I have your name?"
Those green eyes; she stared into vibrant green moss on a sunny day when she looked at these green eyes. Mara would covet this look from her, seeing the intensity in them. To not only to know more, but to intently learn and use her knowledge well to better herself and others. In these eyes a shield and a sword was held steady in front of the paradise of tomorrow's dreams. She held this unknowing gift and smiled. "You may call me, Maratyx."