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B2C35 - Raven Words
🕑 Added 2023-01-15 13:16:10 +0000 UTCChildren smiling with a tired sort of joy was a balm to the heart, Elsbeth decided. She rose from where she had been crouched as the small gathering of young folk ran back to their parents. Such expressions had been rare over the last few weeks, more often than not, families were in mourning, mothers and fathers having fallen in the chaos that followed the breach.
She brushed her hands on her skirt before looking around the small clearing. A fire crackled on the eastern side of the camp, the deer roasting over the open flame filling the area with the scent of smoking meat. Small groups of adults stood here and there, discussing in hushed tones.
Munhilde moved from one group to the next, speaking quietly for a few moments with each. Elsbeth knew the pattern by now, offering words of comfort, asking what she could do to help, offering the support of the Dark Ones.
At the thought of her new Gods, her smile faltered for a moment before she recovered it. She could feel them now, ever so slightly. Once upon a time, the presence of the Goddess Selene had hovered over her, like a light hanging just beyond the corner of her eye. It’d felt stronger when she prayed.
Any sense of the Five Divines was gone now, replaced by a different sensation.
Rot, Crone and Raven. Not really their names, but rather words that evoked their spirit, something that people could understand. When she took a step, it was as if they hummed in the ground beneath her feet. The Old Gods were bound to the land, to the realm itself, in an intrinsic way she had only just begun to comprehend.
The Five always felt as they were above, looking down on their servants from some lofty position. The Three were not like that. They never looked at her, as far as she could tell, they simply were.
“Teacher,” she greeted the older priestess when she caught up to her between groups. “Is there anything else I can do here?”
Munhilde frowned. Elsbeth knew the woman well enough by now to recognise that the expression wasn’t directed at her, it was the face she made whenever she was thinking. The lines on her forehead deepened further whenever she tried to commune with the Will of the Old Ones, causing her to look positively furious.
“There are a few more I need to speak to. A few have requested that we perform a Rite of Knowing, which I will get you to do, but we will have to move apart from the main group. Many here do not approve of the faith and it isn’t wise to test them.”
Elsbeth nodded in understanding as she felt a knot of excitement bloom in her chest.
“Very well, Teacher. I will wait for you.”
Opportunities to perform the Rites were rare, at least so far during their journey. Elsbeth had only recently learned two of them, the Rite of Knowing, and the Rite of Health, and she’d only been able to attempt them once before.
Along with her growing collection of minor miracles, they represented the sum total of her progress as a priestess. She was proud. Tyron had grit his teeth and walked forward on his path despite everything arrayed in his way. The challenges placed in front of her were not nearly so significant, so she had gotten on with it, her newfound determination enough to have her badgering her teacher constantly for new bits of lore and wisdom.
After another ten minutes, Munhilde returned to her and then eyed a few people in the clearing, gesturing them to come over. An eclectic mix of men and women, some former mechants, others farmhands or tradespeople, walked towards them, excusing themselves with a few muttered words.
The small group wandered through the forest for a time, hardly speaking. Elsbeth didn’t have a mind for conversation anyway. She ignored the sounds around her, of rustling grass and snapping twigs, instead focused internally on the Rite she was to perform.
When sufficient distance had been put between the group and the clearing, Munhilde directed them to form a circle. Elsbeth stayed by her teacher’s side as the others moved to stand as directed, creating a loose ring with two metres between each person.
When it had been done to the priestess’ satisfaction, she nodded and gave her student a pat on the shoulder.
“Relax yourself,” the older woman advised, “you are a vessel. The Raven will give, or will not, neither result is in your hands.”
Elsbeth nodded firmly and stepped to the centre of the circle, taking slow, steadying breaths to calm her heart. To commune with the gods on behalf of the people was the primary responsibility of any priest or priestess. She had always expected to be an intermediary of the Divines, but they had rejected her. Now, an entirely different pantheon could enact their will through her, if they chose.
She clasped her hands before her, bowed her head and spoke, intoning the first words of the Rite.
“You come before the Raven,” she said, “the Watcher Who Rides the Storm, the Sky Father, the Wings of Doom. For what reason do you approach?”
Unlike the Divines, the Dark Ones did not welcome supplicants. They helped those who helped themselves. To ask a favour of them required no small measure of courage and belief in the sacrifices one had made. The faces of those around her were set and determined, ready for what was to come.
“We come for Knowledge,” an elderly man, approaching sixty judging by his iron grey hair and weathered features, spoke for the group. “Our homes are lost, our kin are dead, yet we endure still. We ask He Who Knows where we should go that will be safe?”
Despite her focus on the ritual, Elsbeth felt her heart break for these people. Their story was so common. The further she and her teacher had travelled east, the worse the damage caused by the break had become. The far western villages had been protected by the foothills and crags, but here on the plains, there had been no impediments to the ravenous rift-kin. Whole towns had been erased from the map with no survivors.
Please, Raven, she begged internally, these people have suffered greatly, yet still stand tall. Give them your blessing.
“I have heard your plea. Look skyward, and I will seek the Raven. May you be spared his wrath.”
The circle around her leaned back to raise their faces to the sky as Elsbeth began the Rite in earnest. In that same pose, her head bowed and hands clasped before her, she began to pray out loud.
The words that emanated from her mouth were in no mortal language, or even the words of power used by mages to cast spells. This was the tongue of the Old Gods, long forgotten by mortal kind. Only those devoted to their service were able to learn it now, via the Unseen.
To those around her, Elsbeth’s words were indecipherable, almost not sounding like words at all. One sound rolled into the next, seemingly without pause, each harsh utterance a staccato point in a dirge that did not seem to end.
When it seemed she must stop to draw breath, she did not, continuing to utter the Rite without pause.
Having learned this Rite only recently, Elsbeth wasn’t entirely clear on what she was saying. The language was almost impossible to understand, the meaning of any one word shifting and sliding based on the context. It was harsh, and it tore at her throat to speak it for too long, which limited her opportunity to practise with Munhilde, yet she had persevered.
In her heart, she continued to repeat her prayer even as the words rolled from her mouth.
Help these people, they deserve your care. Answer this call, they have suffered enough.
She believed that these people were worthy. Her mind drifted back to the children, and the haunted look that still hid in the back of their eyes. What more could be asked of them?
As she continued to pray, she did not heed the changes that slowly began to occur around her. The supplicants, their faces still upturned, grew nervous as a chill swept through, followed by a darkening of the light as clouds began to gather overhead with unnatural speed.
Seconds later, thunder crashed directly overhead. Many flinched, but all remained in place, never glancing away from the storm that had miraculously begun to form before them.
From a great distance, Elsbeth felt a pressure begin to form. It grew and grew, until she felt as if she might be pressed to the forest floor by its mighty weight. Her ears became filled with a rushing sound, as if a hurricane whistled through the feathers of a giant bird.
A voice sounded out from that vastly distant presence, yet as it reached her it thundered in her mind, driving all thought away.
Your Call is grating, hatchling. You peck without fear. Shall I teach it to you?
Unbeknownst to Elsbeth, blood had begun to flow freely from her ears as she continued the Rite. The weight of the Raven on her mind, for that was who this must be, was suffocating.
These people are strong, these people are worthy, she prayed fervently, grant them a sliver of your wisdom.
Like a mouse under the eye of an enormous hawk, she trembled in the centre of the circle as the Raven contemplated her.
I shall.
All at once, the pressure abated and Elsbeth felt a tiny parcel of knowledge slip into her mind. In an instant, all of it was gone. The thunder, the clouds, the pain and pressure, all of it vanished as if it had never been.
Elsbeth swooned on the spot, but caught herself at the last moment. If she failed to finish the Rite, she would invite the wrath of Raven.
Overwhelmingly tired, she forced herself to remain steady and spoke the last words. With that done, she opened her hands and held them cupped before her.
“Raven has recognised your strength, forged through suffering,” she intoned and the people looked down at her, the tension easing from their faces. “The Answer you seek is this. Head south and to the west. The village of Cragwhistle has room and work. They will take you in. Should you encounter the Necromancer…” Elsbeth blanched, but continued, “... he will protect you from harm.”
Every member of the circle gave thanks, relieved that their plea had been well received. Even more, they were grateful to have some direction in their lives. For weeks, they had drifted, seeking safety, but now, they had a clear path forward.
Munhilde flashed Elsbeth a look that told the young woman to keep her mouth shut and began to move amongst the people. She congratulated them, offered comfort and encouragement, before sending them back to the clearing. When the last had gone, she approached her student and touched her on the shoulder.
“How bad was it?” she asked, gathering a cloth from her pouch and wiping the blood that continued to drip from Elsbeth’s ears.
“Not great,” the young woman replied, trying to be stoic.
It did no good; she slumped down to her knees, all the strength in her legs suddenly gone. Munhilde caught her before she fell, lowering her slowly, familiar scowl on her face.
“Raven very seldom answers directly like that. I’ve only experienced it a few times myself. You must have pissed him off.”
Elsbeth smiled wanly.
“He said I pecked at him.”
“Well, don’t. You’ll get your mind squashed like a bug and your soul ripped out of your body if you aren’t careful. The Dark Ones don’t like being annoyed.”
She sighed.
“I know you want them to answer every prayer and help the people who come before you, but that isn’t how they operate. They’re whimsical, sometimes in the mood to help, sometimes not. Sometimes, they will crush the next thing that reaches up and catches their eye, deserving or not. We are not safe from them, just as we are not safe from lightning or flood.”
Elsbeth nodded, beginning to get back her bearings.
“W-what they said. About the Necromancer….”
“Clearly the Old Gods have their eyes on that boy. I find it interesting they would send people toward him rather than away. Fshaw!”
She spat.
“Raven is always plotting something, the bird brain. Who knows what he could possibly want.”
The young priestess couldn’t begin to imagine plumbing the depth of the god who had deigned to glance at her, almost ending her life in the process. Such a being was too lofty, too grand, for her to comprehend.
“Do you think he is safe?”
Tyron was her friend though, and a good person at heart. She wanted him to be okay.
Munhilde looked down at her apprentice with sympathy.
“For the likes of him, safety is always an illusion. At least you know that, for now, he is still alive.”
Comments
chris
its a bit dubious, she was drunk and laurel joined in, tho she did like rufus sort of in that way but liked tyron more. under other circumstances she mightve done it with him eventually but hed still b a dick for being with laurel b4 and after theyd get together. along with nvr caring about her only that hed have a healer and hed b taking her from tyron.
chris
ya, i sort of wish elsbeth accepted what the old ones told her of the origin and their meeting with the 5, how they made a deal by forcefully sacrificing the god of magic then have been selfish with going back on their deal keeping the power while doing little to help their world and trying to gain more power thru worship. then having accepted all that as truth shed have likely told tyron. tho ofc reason the old gods or munhilde would tell or signal her not to cuz hed find out on his own and telling him now would have distract him from most of his progress, he definitely wouldnt have had the right state of mind to make a revenant like he did or at least it wouldve been alot later by like a week or 2. (i realized this 1/2 way thru typing the 1st paragraph, so hopefully hell visit soon or find out from his parents about that. after all the old 1s servant mentioned hes just as stubborn as his parents) so question is r they much closer to the fives lvl of power than we think even tho the magisters said they "dared to think they could get that close" (which may also imply lvl 100 is either the cap r the stop gap where the 4 have made the law u die if u get that far or close and that 150 is the cap or there is no limit as long as ur alive u can become like yor but in the human dimension ur power is limited cuz yor thought of how coming here shed b without her full power.) which i think is y other slayers like them living in luxury arent as powerful cuz the magisters have implied for them to stop or else and they listened or died and his parents didnt listen and had some way to survive everything thrown at them.
chris
hell write how he wants and if he writes more elsbeth then great cuz its more story and he has his reasons which we usually find out some chapters later. im pretty sure theres been some foreshadowing at least once that hasnt revealed the other 1/2 for 20+ chapters but will eventually. like yor's and her mistress's true motive beyond just turning him into a vamp and gaining full allegiance with him which has been hinted at since her appearance and has repeatedly hinted at with yors prodding for him to accept and the chat with her mistress. so technically its just the same foreshadowing thats been done for many chapters. elsbeths chapters give many plot points and foreshadowing that is needed. so either he does it here and there or all once in many flashbacks or something which is more tedious and throws off the flow even more.
Bernadette
Davi Castro, holy carp! So much content I've missed is available on the web! THANK YOU SO MUCH! ps, the app is still broken. Sigh.
Davi Castro
Try avoid using only the app, everyone on the discord complain that the Patreon app has serious problems.
Davi Castro
👍🏼
Bernadette
I'm the $5 tier. I've gone to his page and went through his posts, and it's all BoD. Chapt 1085 on Dec 5 is the last Chrysalis chapter. Weird. I deleted the app and reinstalled it, same thing. Thank you so much for telling me he hasn't forgotten to post them!!! I'll log in through the web browser next.
Davi Castro
For inner-colony the latest batch go all the way to 1085
Davi Castro
What tier are you? There have been several releases of Chrysalis. See if you are not searching on only bod stories and search without using tags unfortunately RinoZ sometimes miss to tag some chapters
Bernadette
Hi! I don't read BoD. There hasn't been a new Chrysalis chapter since 12/5. It's been 6 weeks without an update that I can easily find, and I've searched but I can't find my glasses on my face most days... I'm sorry you've been ill. I'm glad you're well enough to keep working on BoD. I'm disappointed in the lack of content i signed up for, however, so I'll passively aggressively write notes on chapters I haven't read, like any self-important doofus. Tl;dr- please update on the Chrysalis situation. Please. Pretty please. The physical appearance of the please is stunning, the most beautifulest please there ever was. 🙏 thank you
Greyg
Elsbeth chapters should focus on the gods giving us juicy lore and world building prefer one offs just a single chapter here and there similarly with other characters the main flow narrative should definitely be Tryon and his minions he needs to cast magic and push boundaries finding some riftkin would help.
Runaway_Cactuar
I've enjoyed Elsbeth chapters, but only in bunches. When it's sprinkled in like Intermissions, it really disrupts the flow of the narrative. New Rule: Elsbeth chapters can only come in threes, like Celebrity Deaths~
Tyrunex
This chapter is good for Worldbuilding. Shows how other characters pass their time.
Kyle Pemberton
I think they'll sacrifice his father to remove his mother's brand.
Rahsheem Reid
The people will play into the story is my only guess. RinoZ is good at foreshadowing in that area. My only guess would be them showing up after/during Ty’s encounter w the slayers following him. It also shows what the priestess has learned compared too Ty. Give a good scale too show just how far ahead our boy is in retrospect.
I really disliked this chapter. It added nothing that we didn’t know to the plot. I guess I will come back after two or three months.
Anton Shomshor
Wow. Bit GrimDark there, don’t ya think?
LEMON
I predict that if the brand wins and breaks his parents soul in some way then they will be controlled and end end up fighting Tyron. Tyron will probably kill them and remove the brand from their soul and bind them to a skeleton or something.
Greyg
He has only seen the edges of the dark forest nothing at all the first time he lays eyes on the corpse in the forest he’s gonna get so greedy yet inspired
Sean Hibbitt
Couldn't have said it better!
Every chapter is such an enjoyable read. Thank you.
Gonvas
I expect Tyrion to "fight" his parents when he's at silver rank (40-59). I expect him to unlock a unique class with his achievements (e.g., revenants), probably focused on bone and spirit quality-type minions. So his parents can already be made to good use after dying...
Rahsheem Reid
I think his and his parents potential confrontation is more like 50-80. The second part of your comment
John Pratt
That seems more like a midpoint sort of thing, like level 30 to 50. I think the end game is resurrecting the sacrificed god of magic as some sort of vengeful arch-lich and/or using the brands as a conduit to remotely raise fallen slayers.
Ikawaii
Shouldn't this be chapter 36, last one was 35.
Thunderhoof
Yeah but he'll be gaining the strongest minion if he could defeat his parents then he might overturn the Capital.
Greyg
His parents are top notch but that’s not endgame an entire capital city exists where people like his parents retired to live in luxury maybe not as capable, as his parents, but i bet there’s loads of them each with a brand also an army of lawmen and slayers of varying levels. The pantheon of gods that are currently controlling society are living beings likely even above his parents ability to fight. Then there’s the rifts, the abyss, the vampires, and the dark ones all of whom have plans for tryon. Endgame would be a far ways off will he likely have to fight his parents yeah sadly looks that way with the brand and all. Tryon can probably pass for a basic slayer now still 40-60 levels behind
Thunderhoof
I think the end game would be, Tyron vs his Parents, killing them and making them his minions. They'll be together as a family.
Shockzu
More BoD please!
Greyg
Thanks for the lore drop. Her growth will likely be slow but each time she pecks at the dark ones she’ll grow a bit faster even with their annoyance at the prayers in reality they need her, as a sympathetic face in their pursuit of tryon. Raven working on convoluted bird brained plots i like it directing a bunch of people towards the Necromancers eventual destination.
Davi Castro
Yes, it was implied that during the party after they got their classes she got drunk and slept with him. Also one of the primarily reasons Rufus did that was for Elsebeth be turned down from Selene that was implied that her priestess need to be virgins, so that he could have a healer in his group. Some people discuss if it was rape or not. I’m on the field that wasn’t rape but was a scumbag move and one of the reasons I want Rufus to suffer when he dies by Tyron hand.
Greyg
Rufus yeah that was a long time ago. She was abandoned by the pantheon of gods that stole power from the dark ones either for the sex or for being attached to tryons fate we don’t exactly know nor does it matter
Thunderhoof
But that wasn't the case of her being abandoned by her patron right?
Patrick
Pretty sure she did in the beginning of the book. It set her on this path of the old ones she is on when she was turned away from the goddess.
Yeah, she slept with Rufus
Thunderhoof
Did she slept with the guy who wants to kill Tyron?
