imeeji_frontstage | Flowers of Heaven II: Star of Bethlehem

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Flowers of Heaven II: Star of Bethlehem

Who: lost(?) idols
Where: ???? a mysterious courtyard
When: day 490

[ You awaken to the feeling of cool stone at your back, and a night sky overhead.

All around is a courtyard—a wide circle of marble tile, alternating black and white, interspersed with stone benches and flowerbeds and ornamental trees, all lit by the lambent gleam of strangely vivid starlight.

It is beautiful. And it is decaying. The stone is cracked; the flowers wild and overflowing between the cracked stone; the trees bent and twisted with age, the ground around them littered with fallen fruit. There is a fountain in the center of this space, but it too is broken-down: the water sits stagnant, and nothing remains of the design except a basin and the shattered base of a once-golden sculpture.

—And surrounding it all are not walls, but dense mounds of kudzu, climbing over itself until it towers as high as any watchtower.

How did you get here?
The last thing you vaguely recall is a sudden fit of drowsiness. There’s no sign of any guide or host around, and your powers don’t currently work either. In fact, if you have any corruptions, whether mental or physical, they too are … gone? No, perhaps that's not quite it; you can still feel them—faint, like a phantom limb. Invisible, and unable to affect you.
But there is one notable exception to the rule: all wings, corruption-induced or not, remain in place, as natural as the starlight.

There are other idols around you, all waking up the same way. Is this meant to be some kind of game…? ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[-Was it? Because he's going to check it out.]

[ WAS IT???

the first thing visible upon entering the clearing is the tree, which unlike the ones in the main plaza, is absolutely flourishing. the branches aren't heavy with fruit, but there are some perfectly healthy golden fruits hanging there.

and then, a bit to the side, bending down to check on some of the flowers, is— ]

[ someone—ostensibly a person, or at least she looks like one, albeit with large white, feathery wings extending from her back.

she looks up— ]

—you're here!

[Oh heck guess he can't steal those fruits now.]

-I am!

Who are you?

For my gratefulness to you—yes, I remember! Yes, you were there, were you not? A spirit of wild oats and gorse—though, of course, you have changed, as time is wont to change all the Beloved Children of the Most High. To you and your fellows, blessings, for by your generosity and sacrifices this one has been saved.

Truth be told, this one wasn't sure if it would still work, things being as they are.

Sorry, could you slow down and explain what you mean?

Ah—

...this one supposes you would not remember her, but—by the aid of ye captive "idols," chained to the Enemy's designs, this one was freed from the bondage of the enemy and the bondage of despair.

When you and your fellows walked the briar labyrinth, and purified the darkness of a lost one's heart. This one will always remember.

-Hang on. You aren't allied with one of the hells?

Of course not! Nay, though the throne of Lies once attempted to use this one for their machinations, when she had not the strength to resist—never again!

Then... wait, wait, wait.

I thought we were brought here for a Game last time. But you're saying it was actually a ritual to free you.

In that case, who really brought us here? Is there someone on the inside assisting you...?

Nay—not to free this one, but to subvert her will. But the Enemy has subverted old rites, older than they—and therein by your choices, this one found her strength anew.

This time—

...it is a communal rite, one of catharsis for those ailing, unable to fulfill their purpose. But this one—is only one. Therefore... assistance was required.

Do they have access to this place? Or are they sending us here because they don't?

Speaking of... I took some fruit from here last time, and when I tasted it back in hell, it tasted like nothing. Do you know why that is? The other heavenly fruit I tried tasted much more refreshing.

This place... you could call the soul. What appears here may bear any form, but the substance is affected by the state of the one whose heart shaped it.

...Ehhh, are we in my heart again right now...?

Eh—?

Then, you too... have had visitors journey through your heart, to shed light upon it?

Yeah, yeah! Is that normal?

Not at all! Rather, it has ne'er been used upon the Beloved Children of the Most High, so...

...well, it's very irregular.

It happened after a bunch of us explored a heavenly ship. We got marked with flowers, and a while later we were all drawn under the ship into these dreams that showed the inner workings of our hearts to others - to explore, and to change.

A HEAVENLY SHIP????

[ please hold

she needs to like. reboot, mentally ]

Yeah, it kind of dropped anchor right in the middle of the show grounds? There's gardens and fountains of holy water there, and it looks like it was abandoned abruptly.

There was also a specific garden with a bunch of flowers and a great tree in it. It sounds like a lot of people only found it by chance the first time and never again, but a lot of us fell asleep there.

Do you happen to know what any of that means?

[ she's making a sound like a teakettle ]

Then—then, it's not...

...it's not lost? Then, all this time...

[Sorry for breaking your brain poor angel.]

Sounds like it's something you were looking for?

Of course! Of course, if this one had known that it could be found, but this one doesn't understand...

...how something true could have been summoned to such a place, but perhaps... lies might eventually become the truth, through grace.

What exactly do you mean, "through grace?"

The liar hell has already been trying to turn lies to truth, but somehow I don't think you mean it in the same way.

Even if they profess a new, true heaven—rather, they wish to take the values of Lies and make those heavenly, to attach the name of the celestial heights to what exists, to things that they control.

Rather... perhaps enough still believe in heaven such that belief may yet bolster that which remains.

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