Divine Development

[Izaneus Phortea]

A dream, dreams often lie on the tip of your tongue, yet, why is it that they become so very difficult to remember?

As though you’d lived a life you’d just forgotten, incurable amnesia of memories so strange, beautiful, painful. You may recall flashes, you may recall the entire dream you experienced.

They remain, however, only that. Dreams. Figments of your imagination.

Things to enjoy during the night, and forget during the day. Yet, what Shikiria experienced was no dream, though her imagination played a part, they were ultimately a great lesson. Her first of many steps through the path she now walked.

Her eyes awakened, which stung briefly from the tears that adorned her face meeting briskly with the mountain air. Causing her to blink, and wipe her face with her sleeves. The vision she had clear as day within her mind, yet the burden she bore mostly gone with the wind.

“Suwako? You there?” She questioned, looking around, and, rather unfortunately, finding herself still within the gods former form, and even more unfortunately. Not receiving a response.

Yet… the body felt more natural now. Even just a little more. Shikiria’s senses seemingly reached around… and upward, turning to face the clouds, she felt it, she could touch it.

That lightning that took her so long to learn… now bent itself to her will. With a hesitant smile, a small crackle of thunder echoed above, as though to acknowledge her presence. She reached upward. Her heart beating in her ears…

“Already getting started kiddo?” Suwako’s voice sounded from Shikiria, causing the woman to jump slightly. Her head swimming with questions.

“What? Where..” She questioned curiously, looking about the scenic mountain. Yet finding no trace of… “Suwako?” Her voice sounded suspiciously as she eyed the hat she’d thrown away. Those eerie eyes staring at her. Or… at least she thought they- “ Yes, indeed.” It spoke! That… was probably the freakiest thing she’d ever seen.

“You’re more or less already a god… your divine power however is abysmally low as of yet, so creating a physical form would have taken time… such time we don’t quite have. That’s why I gave you that form.” The hat explained, causing Shiki to raise a worried brow.

“ Wait.. I thought you said that if I stayed too long in this body…”

“You would have merged with my essence, had you not become a god yourself. Weren’t you listening?” The hat teased. “ Well. Regardless. You’ve completed the transformation. That form is my gift of divine power to you. That you may sustain yourself for just a bit without the prayer of followers.”

“What..? So… hang on.. I’m a god now? That’s it…?” Shikiria asked once more. Unconvinced.

The hat rolled its eyes, yet Shikiria didn’t feel any annoyance from it. “Didn’t you feel it? That new feeling in your chest? That connection to your Domain?” She questioned the Divine fledgling. Who looked upward.

“That’s… my Domain?”

It took her a few moments of silence to realize the weight that held. She was a god, a god. That…

She chuckled slightly. Taking a large deep breath, and closing her eyes. Enjoying her new form. Enjoying the clarity her legend, her visions granted her.

That inspiration would of course be fleeting. But she sensed she was more than ready for the world at large now… at least in some small capacity. She could see the future ahead, fraught with dangers, frustration. But, that was life, and would of course, allow her to grow.

In this sense. She felt complete.

In this sense alone. She felt alright.

“Well… if you’re done, Shall we actually get started?”

Turning around, Shikiria hastily nodded.

 

[Fenix]

Suwako gave a roll of the eyes of her hat in amusement, watching Shikiria’s unaccustomed movements.. Among the many gods who had lived, Some had died and given birth to other gods, others had given up this or that aspect, while others had simply spawned them. It depended on the god how many children had been created, but few, if any, had adopted a new member of their pantheon.

She supposed it was just another reason she had outlived so many, to meet this new world and existence instead of fading away. She also supposed directing her pride there was allowing her to avoid more bothersome thoughts about this new creature.

“You’ve entered into a new realm now, Shikiria… so show me you can move. You are flesh no longer, but spirit. The whisper of a mad dream rather than a true being…”

And with that, the Hat that was Suwako Moriya floated into the air, wobbling as it skirted it’s way into the air.

“So, come, defy the air and float with me.”

Shikiria looked up at her, confused as she cocked her head.

“Uhhh… how?!”

Suwako’s plastic eyes turned into a glare. “How? Are you not a god?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know how this god power… works. I know magic, but…”

Suwako blinked a few times in the air, quite a feature, given her current looks, before her eyes glazed a bit. “Ohhh, I get it now. You were a mortal magician, so this is going to be extra difficult for you!”

Shikiria’s response was to frown. “What? Does this disqualify me from using this power, or is there some sort of conditio-”

Suwako responded by rocketing straight on course out of the air and atop Shikiria’s head in an instant.

“Nope!” The hat responded, before pulling her a few inches in the air, suctioned firmly on her head.

“H-hey! Uhhh…” Shikiria stammered, seeming suddenly taken aback as her legs wiggled in the air,but Suwako was in no rush to let her go - or to stop talking.

“Listen to me - you are not a magician. You do not operate by the laws or logic of man. To utilize your abilities, you must leave cause and effect, law and order, behind. You work under new principles. You are not human.”

Suwako accelerated upwards, bringing Shikiria straight up into the sky. Luckily, she hadn’t totally lost a mortal’s understanding.

“Your power is a part of you. It is what replaces your heartbeat, your breath, your basic impulses. It’s now the flesh and bone, the soul and spirit. Thinking about ‘how’, stops you at the starting line. On the other hand, desire…”

Suwako gave a snicker, as she realized they were a couple hundred feet up.

“That works pretty gosh-darn good. Seeya at the bottom!”

And with that, the hat that was Suwako dropped her new protege unceremoniously towards the ground.

 

[Izaneus Phortea]

Shikiria felt the wind whip and lash past her as she descended through the air. The cool of the altitude making the air that pressed and slashed against her feel like blades that glanced off her skin. Surprisingly, she didn’t scream. She felt a certain… safety, being up that high, which she couldn’t place. No, what made her scream wasn’t being that high up.

It was plummeting closer and closer to the mountaintop she just meditated for so long on. “FUCK.” She shouted, the fear quickly making her abandon her training of etiquette. The velocity at which she fell only made things worse… yet better at the same time. She felt she should be flailing about, readying her magic to slow or make her inevitable splat less lethal. Yet the panic that normally came, simply didn’t.

She felt a strange sort of natural in the air, and slowly maneuvered herself to face the hat that Suwako embodied. Her eyes squinted as she tried to realize what she truly was now, and all that entailed, and come to terms with Suwako’s words, and guidance. “You are a god now, all your power is, is an extension of yourself. It is you. You are no longer mortal, and you do not constrain yourself to their limits. Good luck!”

Not exactly verbatim what the Deity said, but essentially how Shikiria took it nonetheless.

“If it’s me.. Then come! Guide me! Don’t let me be a stain on the mountainside!” She demanded.

Yet it did not come.

Well that fucking sucked.

The cliffs were drawing ever closer now. Her imminent demise drawing ever closer. Each breath was a wasted moment. A strange machination of strange occurrences.

There was nothing she could do. She would die. Shikiria would end here.

The ground drew closer, and as it did so, Shikiria closed her eyes, and thrust her arms out, to hopefully shelter her head and body from the brunt of the damage. She didn’t want to die.. Not again. Not here… Her eyes closed, she couldn’t tell… but it felt, like the wind had stopped. Like she had stopped. Was this.. ?

Opening her eyes tentatively, slowly. To make sure she wouldn’t be opening her eyes to her death. Shikiria gasped in surprise. The wind had indeed stopped. But not quite fully. Instead, it was.. Beneath her..? No, that wasn’t the correct description, but she lacked the words for anything else. As all of it.. All of her, was focused, focused on feeling through this entirely new power.. No. That was also the wrong description.

It was her. The wind. The clouds above, the skies and the storms. They were held to her. They were bound to her. They were her, and she was them. It had taken her a moment, But Shikiria had gotten Suwako’s metaphors… They weren’t even metaphors, gods.

It felt so freeing, yet, not quite as much as it could be she sensed

She simply.. Did. She simply made the wind launch her into the air, above and into the clouds, she screamed and shouted with child-like delight as she dipped and dived through the air. This was it. This was the freedom she’d waited for, that she’d found. It was her. She felt the thunder crack and rumble around her and realized it too was her. “Come!” She called, and willed. This time? It did come. Crackling and striking her palm with all the force one would expect of an errant lightning bolt. It cooed against her arm, and danced among her fingers.

She chuckled as it tickled her hand, and traveled to and from her like an old friend. Before departing back into the clouds from whence it came. Which also called to her. The cool of the wind, and safety she’d felt earlier. All of it made sense as she lingered here in her space. Her domain. She was a god now, the weight of those words finally hit her as she pulled forth the cloud from which the Lightning originated. Of course it sent a myriad of sensations through her as the cloud danced around her in its graceful permeable form.

It all felt so wonderful. This domain was hers to protect, aid.. To use it to aid those who followed her? Was this what Suwako had felt all this time? Shikiria had to think no.. as people were all unique in their own ways, the same had to hold true of gods. Perhaps Suwako felt the strength of Earth? It’s ability to stay steadfast, but also its ability to change over time..

She had no clue.

“Havin’ fun?” Suwako questioned playfully and curiously in equal measure. “I knew ya’d figure it out. Cut it a little close though hm?” She teased quietly. The Hat squinting at Shikiria with what the new deity figured was badgering playfulness. Shikiria heard a cough, and silently wondered how Suwako could… talk, like that.

Chalking it up to being a god. She shook her head and listened intently. “Now that you’ve discovered how to wield all that you are, shall we find some people to introduce to you, and your domain? That way my gift does not go to waste all too soon. All that fun stuff.. Ye should probably take an appearance that fits you best though.”

Shikiria coughed quietly as Suwako explained. The god having a strange way of words… perhaps because she’d been at this for so long? Or perhaps she was just bored of using formal language for what could just as easily be described as “Get get some followers or you’ll die” Shikiria shrugged, she was accustomed to both manners of speech, she just wasn’t used to them being used interchangeably as Suwako had been doing.

“Right… How do I do that?”