[Miriam]

M i r i a m

#E7A1B0 * profile

"Come, much lies ahead of us today."

The sun was just rising over the mountaintops, dew droplets still clinging to the foliage in the thick jungle. It was a promising day for the pair, although the reasons differed between them. For Miriam, it was another step in the right direction for her. Even though the outsider beside her held zero Aviari blood, it was hard to deny the importance of what was about to happen. Anything having to do with the gods sent shivers down her spine, and not just out of fear. If they approved of this new blood, then who was she to contradict them? It would be outright treasonous of her. Nope, not today, no matter how much she disliked the thought of having a non-Aviari as their Phoenix.

They made their way closer to Xiuhcoatl's Keep, its structure looming ever taller ahead of them. The closer they got, the more tingles Miriam felt in her feathers, though she didn't show it. She walked along with tremendous poise, head held high and lightly stepping on her toes through the undergrowth. The Crystalline woman couldn't have felt more important in this moment. She felt as closer as ever to her ancestors, acting as council woman, as Griffin, even if for a day. She had to make sure she played the part good for the real thing. If the boy was to be the new Phoenix, she had to make a good impression. The woman decided to act on her role, making small talk to ease any nerves he may be feeling, and of course to get to know him a bit more.

"So, Kukulkan, was it?" she purred. Quite a mouthful. "Tell me a bit about yourself. Where are you from? I seem to recall you saying your mother built your family's empire?" It was no easy feat to build an empire, and she had to say she was impressed. Not that she would know, of course, but she could understand the work put forth to create and hold such power. "She must have had some great ambition, something I find admirable." Of course, assuming he was telling the truth about all that. It was easy for someone to say I AM THE SON OF SUCH N' SUCH FIRST OF HIS NAME AND BLAh blah blah....He was, after all, still a stranger having barely spent enough time in the tribe. However, how he presented himself at the initial meeting suggested inner leadership qualities. Calm, collected, determined, bold....It will be interesting to see what message the gods send him, and if he is to be the new Phoenix, if he will share some of his mother's prowess.

The Pyramid stood just in front of them. "Ambition is something you need here if you want to succeed and make something of yourself. Some here do not possess the right amount of ambition, and so they are left at the bottom to rot away their days." She let out a pained sigh, although she held no sympathy for them. It was their own fault. She felt pity, yes, but only because it was such a waste. "A waste of potential when they could be so much more." Miriam lead the way toward the rear side of the Keep, approaching the tunnel entrance that was hidden away by vines and bamboo stalks. Turning back toward Ku, she allowed her pink eyes to soften, a smile creasing her lips. "But I have no doubts about you." Unless you disappoint....

Turning back toward the tunnel entrance, she began to make her way inside. She cast a glance back, a smugness about her face. "Hope you're not afraid of the dark...or claustrophobic." It would come across as light-hearted teasing, but there were some who would lose their sanity over such things. Gods forbid he be one of them, but she didn't take him as the type.

The woman made her way through the tunnel, ears rotating to keep track of her companion. The morning light from the entrance gradually grew dimmer and dimmer, until it went out altogether, like someone choking out the flame in a gas lantern. The Aviari woman's night vision soon grew stronger, making it easier to see any obstacles ahead. It would be her duty to warn the boy of any hazards.

"Watch your step," she murmured, her voice echoing down the tunnel. They reached a set of stairs that led further down into the Keep, patches of light leaking through from the ceiling every so often, illuminating the thick fog that bloomed from underneath. The thick fog and humidity made it harder to breathe, but Miriam knew that they would soon reach their destination, away from the fog.

Suddenly, Miriam could see a faint light from up ahead. She quickened her pace, ready to be out of the dense fog. There was an entrance to a room with a fire peacefully crackling, an eternal flame. It never went out, for it was a symbol of the gods and their power, as well as their eternal light and guidance over the tribe. The woman stepped deeper into the room, muscles relaxing as they felt the warmth from the fire. Sitting next to the flame, Miriam beckoned Kukulkan over with a twitch of her tail before resting it neatly next to her.

"This is the parlor room," she hummed, enthralled to be in a position of power. Today, she would be his mentor, as well as his judge. Speaking of which...."And that," she began, glancing over to another blackened tunnel. "is the entrance to the Trial chamber. That is where you will be given a message, or messages, from the gods themselves. Everyone must go through the Trial to become a true member of the tribe, and take their place among its people." Her voice rang confident, yet held a nurturing tone. It was as if she were teaching the young of the tribe about their culture, and in a way, she was. She carred out her Dove rank well.

"I cannot come with you. Instead, I will await here for your return. Feathers fluffing up slightly, she went on. "Since we do not have a Phoenix or council members," Yet. "I will be your judge. I am here to help you interpret what you see, smell, hear, or feel inside the chamber. You may speak of your experience to others if you so choose, but of course you don't have to." Miriam never did, and for good reason. She could still remember her Right of Passage like it was yesterday. It started out so promising, so bright, until she saw the torn feathers, heard the cackling in her ears, the sense of humiliation, remorse, a familiar voice....

Not now, you stupid woman. Her thoughts bit her back into reality, though she hardly skipped a beat. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask now. Otherwise, when you are ready, you may enter the chamber." Miriam remembered the day when the judge that oversaw her gave her the rundown. Her eyes never left them as she ate up every word they spoke. The smallest detail could mean everything, and she couldn't miss one. She and her family depended on it.

Once Ku left her by the fire, she would settle down on the warm, stone ground, making herself comfortable while she waited. However, wide, pastel pink eyes never left the black entrance, looking on unseeingly at the part of her that remained in the abyss.

[Kukulkan]

f e a t h e r e d

p r i n c e

      "Come, much lies ahead of us today."

      Kukulkan followed close at hand to the brilliantly-plumed stranger, anticipation weighing heavy on his shoulders as the two departed from the rest of the group. He had little worry over his brother's well-being - with the two of them being so ridiculously larger than the rest, of course - but that didn't take away the rest of his anxieties. Miriam here seemed most unimpressed with him, which already set them off on a shaky start. But then she mentioned a Trial.

      Hell, K was all for proving his worth and taking on a challenge, but this group seemed... odd. Who the fuck knew what a Trial meant to them? Who the fuck knew if he would survive it? That's what rattled his nerves.

      Though as much as it rattled his nerves, the sheer adrenaline was addicting. As his heart fluttered, his grin spread, fangs poking out, eyes glimmering. Miriam's voice caught his attention again and he chuckled softly, "Just K s'fine, heh." His gaze sought hers, though she seemed focused on the task at hand - putting him to the test. "Yeah, my ma built th'greatest empire. From nothin'. I uh... it was before we were born though... so I ain't never seen it. But she taught me ev'rything, wantin' me to do th' same." A pang in his heart, the thought of his family lost so far away. His gaze found its way to the ground, his smile lost, "Yeah... ambition... one of her strengths." The weight on his chest deepened. Ambition had lingered heavy in all the tales he was told of his mother and her conquests, though it was lost in everything he'd seen in person.

      Was ambition something doomed to fade within everyone? Or were those who harbored more fated to lose it more quickly?

      Her words rang in his ears as they continued along, K having to dip his head at this point or there due to his larger size. She moved with such ease and grace that it would've been terribly stupid if he fumbled over himself in his attempts to prove his strengths. But they soon approached a tall, looming feature, its size dwarfing the trees around it and its shadows chilling. Or was that his nerves again? Kukulkan rolled his shoulders, his eyes widening as Miriam led him through a bamboo-shrouded entrance into a dark tunnel beneath. Shit. This was where he was gonna die. It was all an elaborate scheme. Casting a quick glance behind him, a shot of worry shuddered down his back for his brother. And he gritted his teeth - isolated or not, K would stand his ground. Trial by fire, he would conquer.

      So they descended.

      The darkness dazed him for a second, the perfect geometry of their tunnel a daunting realization, though he clung to the scent of Miriam closely, following. Minutes seemed hours, the air turning cold and damp, before the two eventually turned a corner to a small room with a burning firepit. Only one other exit, on the opposite side of the fire, loomed with a blackness that shook him deep. All these ponderous thoughts were cut off as Miriam began to explain. For a moment he started to feel a bit better, realizing that he wouldn't have to fight anyone. But the cryptic vagueness of the female's words left a deep uneasiness in his gut, though he fought hard to keep it from surfacing on his face. She would interpret what he saw? Smelt? Felt?

      He was so lost in thought that a solid ten seconds must have passed before he caught himself and realized he should be asking questions. But his stunned mind couldn't think of any, so he nodded haphazardly and turned to face the darkness that would be his Trial. Swallowing the pit in his throat, the boy gurgled a low growl to convince himself of some feigned confidence as he forced his legs to step forward, feeling the warmth of the fire flee behind him.

      There were steps, stairs, that hugged the wall to his left, and he descended them. The chamber itself was massive, enough to easily accomodate the entirety of the tribe - or at least those he'd met - and then some with ample room. The ceiling was tiered, with vines and moss and fungus clinging to it and the crevices between them and the walls.  He could hear the drip-drop-drip of water somewhere, but he could not see it. Only a pair of small, caved-in holes in the towering ceiling lent the faintest shred of light, just enough for him to be able to carefully see his steps. The chill seemed to reach deeper inside of him as the seconds ticked, his vision slowly acclimating to the lack of light. Soon enough he thought he could see his breath, and... hear its echoes?

      Only they weren't his breaths. Or an echo. His neck and head felt so warm, so sudden, though it was a bastardization of comfort and discomfort. His nerves seemed cozy, his nape shuddered in a wrap of ice, and the skin around his eyes seemed heavy and warm. As though he were crying, but with no tears. "M--Mir---" Oh no. Even his voice... it was different. It seemed shallower, more... far away. Was it an echo?

      A wave of confusion, of warmth, overcame him. His breaths were deeper, slower, heavier. He noticed this. He didn't notice time - it was elusive, it had no claim here. How long had he been here? Wait... what was that? The drip-drop-drip was terribly loud now, an assault on his ears, and now he saw it. It was a fire. Fire leaking from above, a fire that spread, slowly at first, then so hungrily. It was dark, like everything else, but now it wasn't. It was starting to glow, to flicker, to look like real fire. And it fell like oil alight.

      Something was oh so wrong in here.

ooc: and so it begins

text speech: #a5300d

[Xiuhcoatl]

☼ X I U H C O A T L ☼

      The god watched from above, hidden in the cracks and crannies of the pyramid's Trial chamber. It had been oh so long since It'd last had the pleasure of entangling Itself with another, to dazzle them with Its presence and awe them with limitless wonders. Its serpentine form coiled and slithered, the shifting feathers creating the softest rustle as It hovered over a dozen meters above the new subject. This one was new - he smelled it.

      A long-fingered paw outstretched, reaching out, a talon delicately touching the water leak on the ceiling with such purpose, such calculation. The liquid in the darkness shimmered and sparkled, a warm glow of flickering light spreading through it, collecting, as it continued to drip. drip. drip. The chamber swelled with Its light, Its presence, and Its form liquefied into the fire droplets as they tumbled below, splashing and spreading.

      The cold stone floor was afire now. It bore Its breath.

      "WHO ARE YOU TO DEIGN YOURSELF WORTHY OF MY JUDGEMENT?"

      Its otherworldly words boomed, echoed, and claimed control over the chambers. The walls faded into nothing, all trace of scent, of air, or sound evaporated into nothingness. There was nothing but blackness. Blackness and Xiuhcoatl. Its flames swelled and soared, ever-shifting and and rolling, flickering in front of and around and above this stranger. Deep in those flames, eyes of blinding white glared with an intensity akin to the blazing stars in the night skies. It saw deep, it saw all. It saw truth.

      "YOU ARE NOT ONE OF MINE." The flames hissed, a serpent tongue of fire licking out, dangerously close to the stunned creature. "YET YOU SEEK ME HERE." The mass billowed and swelled, its edges that were not edges curling around the subject with a pulse, not unlike that of a mortal heart. It beat so fast, so rapid, so terrified. It was not the god's, for It had no heart to feel with. White eyes narrowed and shifted within the flames, peering with intensity from the left, then whooshing over to the right.

      "YOUR TONGUE IS FOR SPEAKING," The fires threatened, low and rumbling in the depths of its heat, "SO SPEAK." Or the gods may free you of it. Xiuhcoatl silently commanded the darkness to then lose its weight, as though they were in the vacuum of space. Devoid of all hope, balance, stability, warmth. Leaving this stranger with nothing to cling to for life but the god itself. And with that It peered deep within, Its judgement seeping into the subject with a heat he would surely feel. A peek into his soul.

      Oh, the things he saw.

      "YOU LEFT YOUR FAMILY..." It started, slowly, idly, before fiery lips split with such sinister intent, "LEFT THEM FOR DEATH TO CLAIM."

ooc: this account plays all the hallucinations, deemed as encounters from the deity Xiuhcoatl by the citizens of the tribe.

text speech: BOLD

[Kukulkan]

f e a t h e r e d

p r i n c e

      "HOLY SHIT!"

      Kukulkan reared up and leaned back, legs swinging as his footing slipped and he fell flat against his back on the ground. All the while his wide, disbelieving gaze was locked on an impossibility - a fire from blackness, with an ever-shifting, liquid form. The flames that dripped as water only moments ago now lit the floor beneath him, spreading, spreading, encircling him. GOOD GODS IT SPOKE. Ominous, echoing, surfacing from every which angle. It came from nowhere and everywhere. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fucckkkk...

      Still disheveled and on the ground, K scrambled to a crouched position, hurriedly scuffling back to avoid searing his flesh against the pool of conscious fire at his feet. But his eyes were peeled, staring at two white essences within this mass of heat, of spite, of fire. They stared right back at him, and he could swear its heat burned right to his core. His heart rattled and his chest heaved with breaths barely able to compensate. His surroundings swirled and spinned until they were immaterial, there was only the ground beneath him and this... Fire everywhere else.

      What's going on? Where is this? What is this? WHY IS THIS ALL SO WRONG?

      And it spoke again. It almost felt as though it was speaking from within him. Chest heaving, K felt his jaw stammering as he failed to piece together a response. Everything Miriam had told him on their way over, every bit of warning or advice from the parlor room, it was all gone now. Even she didn't exist anymore. It was just him and this entity. NOW IT WAS COMMANDING HIM, with a voice that shook like thunder, rumbled and demanded.

      "K-k-KukulKAN!!!" Stutters turned to screams as his footing - the only thing he had left at this point - vanished and he felt himself plummeting. White hot air rushed in his face, twisting and turning his body as it flailed in free-fall. Whipped this way and that, his stomach shot up to his throat, K could barely breathe with how violently he was being dropped into a blackness that was only split by the spiraling, ensnaring fire entity.

      At what seemed to be an eternity. during which the boy had conceded to defeat, and felt the cold chill of shame well in his chest, combating the blazing heat all about him, he floated gently into nothingness. He hovered, his paws kicking uncomfortably for a few bits before he balanced himself in this zero-gravity field. Tears welled in his eyes as he hesitantly looked around, seeking any sign of familiarity. But there was nothing. Literally. And then the entity descended and surrounded him again.

      Its next words struck a chord. Brows furrowed and jaws clenched, "LIES!" He choked out behind a sob, one wrought with anger. But before he could snap back again, a long, muscular arm of liquid fire, with taloned fingers weaved together a reality from the blackness. It was... it...

      It was Ma. And Dad. K lost his breath, the fury leaving his face as he stared, dumbfounded, aching. Longing. "Ma..." But it wasn't just them, Ma curled around their fragile father, who slept as he always did - shaking, trembling, twitching. Cian was there... Shuck and Caspian and little Whiskey. All his siblings, and some that were older... some he'd never seen before but he simply knew they were family too. So many of them. A small smile choked out, a wet sniffle as Kukulkan reached out with a weightless forepaw.

      Which was a mistake.

      As soon as the tip of his claw reached their image, their reality, them, it disappeared. In flames. "No..." Though the image vanished, he could clearly hear the shrieks of pain, of agony and of death. His nostrils were filled with the nauseating stench of singed fur and burnt flesh. "NO!" His ears were filled with the gurgles of a dying beast, of the cries and screams and condemnations of the dying. Hot tears boiled over from his eyes, drenching his cheeks as he gritted his teeth and kicked his legs out furiously, uselessly. "NO NO NO NO YOU MOTHERFUCKER NO!!!"

      Flailing limbs no longer kicked out against nothingness, but felt themselves slap against a cold, merciless floor. The shock snapped his jaw shut, piercing his tongue and drawing blood, but it drew little attention from him as the boy launched himself up, wobbling too and fro at first before spinning around, eyes searching, searching, so desperately. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?!" he shouted as soon as he found that formless fire entity, its white eyes cold. A snarl ripped through the boy's throat, teeth bared and muscles tense. The anguish contorting his heart, the weight in his chest, his unyielding need to burst into tears... it all fell heavy on him.

      "THAT'S MY FUCKING FAMILY!" He choked on his words, the fury mingled with the loss. Limbs shook beneath his shivering body, his ears pounding with the echoes of his own heartbeat, which sounded as though it could be heard for miles. The heat, the emotion, it all sent shudders down his spine. But K still stood, staring down this... monster. "M-my family..." They couldn't be dead, right? They weren't. He'd never let them. Shuck wouldn't. They couldn't die. But...

      But what if?

ooc: n/a

text speech: #a5300d