Sune Verticordia

[Minhyriath]

Ameena stood in her room wearing a modest (modest in Sunite circles, anyhow) red gown with a small black corset, her dark tresses combed and her feet bare. She leaned on a somewhat cramped and open window, watching the pouring rain outside. The rainfall spread its noise and scent inside the candlelit room, which Ameena relished as her thoughts wandered far and near. She absentmindedly touched the colorful pendant on her neck, which depicted the beautiful face of a red-haired, ivory skinned woman.

Ameena glanced down with a soft smile and stepped away from the window, walking over to a wooden desk with a rather ramshackle seat. She sat down on it and opened a small red book on the desk, a golden floral filigree on the cover. She flipped to an empty opening in the book and took a quill from an inkwell further along on the table. After a pause, she began to write.

"So much has happened in such a short while. My imagination certainly went wild after I left Waterdeep and the temple, but never could I have expected what I was about to face here in this rainy valley. I miss my sisters and brothers of the temple dearly, but I believe as I did before - a parting was for the best. Without change and without growth, how can there be beauty? Sune has done her best to guide me and keep me safe, and I thank her every day for it. This land is truly of the nature, both beautiful and dangerous - like a large, feline beast of prey.

In the span of a few days, I have seen both the best and the worst the land has to offer. From a demon to a true manifestation of a noble God. It is more than a sign that I must remain here and follow my heart and the tenets of Sune. Now I know for certain that there is no other life for me, but to spread beauty and love into the hearts of others. I want to mend, I want to aid and I want to uplift. I pray to Sune that I have the strength to succeed. I already have something that is worth much more than coin or any riches - the fresh, sprouting roots of many a friendship.

Only through love and respect can the tree of life truly blossom."

[Minhyriath]

Pitch black darkness changed into golden light as she opened her eyes. Slowly, her eyes adjusted and the light dimmed enough for her to see clearly. The sun was setting outside a massive courtyard made of white stone, with ivory towers reaching for the gentle crimson skies, firelight flickering from within pillared arches at the top of the spires. The courtyard was lined with thousands and thousands more of bright red roses, with vines covered in maroon blossoms reaching high up along the walls. Metal lanterns hanging from wooden posts dotted the wide cobblestone walkways, giving the space a gentle orange glow.

Her gaze ended up on a huge fountain in the middle of a large square. Water cascaded down from the top of an ornate, curving marble horn five times her height. The flowing waters were not the only sound in the courtyard, for distant songs sung by a beautifully voiced choir echoed from outside the walls, mixed with gentle laughter. She walked slowly towards the fountain, amazed by the sights, sounds and feelings overwhelming her. Her heart swelled within her breast with love and warmth, as if it was the essence of the air she was breathing. As she reached the marble waterfall, she felt (or saw?) a light emanating from behind her. She turned around and was greeted by yet another otherwordly and beautiful sight - a human figure made of pure light. Its arms were wide open, and even as she could not make out a face, she felt it smile upon her.

Then there was a flash. It was as if all the colors of the world were inverted for a fleeting moment.

"You... disgust me," whispered a beautiful, foreign and female voice.

She turned to look down at her feet, which were bare. Her feet stood not on cobblestone, but skulls covered in dead, dry moss.

"You are ugly..."

The warmth in her heart was replaced with blood flowing through her veins that felt as cold as ice. The sight stabbed her like a discordant, loud noise, and she stumbled backwards.

"REPUGNANT WHELP!"

She held onto her chest, her heart beating in a rapid, panic-inducing rhythm. She felt the urge to look behind herself, and slowly, she turned her head. Her gaze met an ugly, red glow as she saw that the waters of the fountain had turned into blood. It overflowed the fountain and splattered onto her feet.

She spun her head around and saw the being of light again. A bloodied sword protruded from where the chest of the celestial being would be, and it collapsed onto a heap on the skull floor, as if in slow motion. As it hit the ground, it burst into an explosion of dark ashes and dust that flooded the courtyard. She coughed as the cloud hit her, surrounding her. She heard a low, monotonous drone, like the buzz of a million flies carrying a foul plague - it seemed to be approaching her from within the dark cloud. In an instant, a disembodied skull burst from the darkness, rushing towards her. Its eyesockets glowed with sickening red light. She tasted blood. The skull opened its jaw and screamed like a thousand demon chorus from the deepest level of the Hells. It was only one word, and it rung in unison with her own voice.

"BEGONE!"

--------------------------------------------

And in that moment, Ameena woke up. She sprung up on her bed, panting for air. She felt the bedsheets were covered in cold sweat.

She looked around the dark room, hearing a thunderstorm outside and the patter of rain against the window boards. She began to relax somewhat and brought a hand up to her clammy forehead, catching her breath. She slowly swung her legs off of the bed and rested her feet on the wooden floor. Ameena looked down, and saw her pendant. She picked it up with her hand and brought it to her lips, closing her eyes as she lightly kissed it. She then grasped it in her hand, her eyes still closed. She began to pray.

"I fear not the eternal night, Sune, for you light my path. I venture through life under your watchful eyes, Firehair, for I serve you..."

Her mellifluous, gentle voice carried on.

[Minhyriath]

Ameena's room was lit with a shaft of light from the corridor as she stepped in. She closed the door and leant against it for a moment. The only sound in the pitch-black room was her quiet sigh. A part of it was relief, and the rest a release of her pensive mind. After a moment she recited the words to a simple cantrip, and the room was filled with light. The bedsheets were in much the same disarray as they had been for the past couple of days. Ameena had spent those days alone inside with barely anything to eat, her mind wracked with a tempest of thoughts both light and dark, and her heart weighed by something that she could not grasp.

She walked over to the table beside the closed window, a gentle whisper of wind echoing through the walls. She wore her familiar dark red and purple leathers that had seen much in the past month, though especially much in the past tenday or so. Ameena removed her cloak and placed it on the back of the chair, which she then sat on. She stared at the red book on the table for a pause, and then reached into a pouch hanging from her belt. She produced a single green leaf and gazed at it in the arcane light. A joyous smile of fresh reminiscence spread to her face, which was framed with disheveled locks of her raven hair. She brushed away a tress from her face and placed the leaf beside the book. She took a quill and opened the book. She wrote:

"I have once read that modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise. To continue that thought, overwhelming doubt must surely be the jagged rocks that lurk underneath that beacon of light. To be crushed upon those rocks is a fear I live with every day. Fear is a complicated thing. Fear is both the beast that preys in the darkness of a murky forest and the invisible hand of better judgment. The bitter irony of that fearsome, bloodlusting beast is that it is not real.

Sune has shown me her grace once again, and dispelled that visage of the beast with her gifts that are bestowed upon all of us, whether some choose to accept them or not. Through the passionate and wise words of a loving friend I have seen the light of truth and beauty, the path that darkness has tried to lead me astray from.

I will no doubt still be grasped by fear and beset with doubt, but the wisdom lies in not being enveloped by them. I will never be cowed to inaction when it is the time to truly conquer fear - not when others depend on me. Heavy clouds may cross the valley of my heart, basking it with shadows - but they shall inevitably pass."

A serene smile lingered on her lips as she closed the book and replaced the quill. She took her pendant in her hand and gazed at it. The vivid colors of the metallic image of the Firehair were as lustrous as ever.


((Thanks to Ranahlee for curing my writer's block and inspiring this piece!))