The Moors, Gavony, Innistrad
Apr. 9th, 2025 06:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deathsmajestyWhile Ignis and Jace followed the trail of odd stone outcroppings, people all over Innistrad were dealing with the madness infecting the plane - and sometimes giving into it themselves.
It was time. Time to pray.
Dear Archangel Avacyn. Mother told me that if I get scared, I should pray. I'm scared now.
Though flanked by cathars with gleaming blades and hard steel armor, Maeli cowered. He felt alone.
He had felt alone since he had fled the village on the day that the horrible angels had come with their rain of fire. He had run into the forest like his mother had told him, and he had not gone back to the village. He had wanted to a hundred times. But she had told him no matter what he couldn't return, and her eyes had been more serious than he had ever seen them. He had thought it best to listen. Now he wished he hadn't. Now he wished he was home.
He clutched the stuffed rabbit given to him by the old woman with the gray hair. The one who had found him in the woods and taken him into her house that smelled of sweets and stale bread. She had told him to call her Ms. Sadie, and said that her house could be his house for as long as he wanted. But that had never been what he wanted.
Dear Archangel Avacyn. I want to go home. Please. Can I go home?
There was no answer. Instead, thick writhing arms reached for him, shooting through the space between the cathars' blades; they were the same writhing arms that had burst out of Ms. Sadie's chest that very night while they ate their dinner. It had happened not long after Maeli had felt his chair shudder, and even a shorter time after a gust of wind had blown through the open shutters, bringing along a smell like too-sweet nectar. His spoon had been in his mouth when Ms. Sadie's chest had cracked open; he had been halfway through swallowing a mouthful of thin stew. Most of the stew had come out of his nose, and it had burned him, inside his head, up behind his eyes. It had made him cry. Tears had streamed down his cheeks as Ms. Sadie and her too many arms chased him.
"Stay back!" The cathars shifted in the tall grass, slicing off one arm after another. One landed at Maeli's feet. As he looked down at it, his insides twisted and squirmed; this was one of her true arms, he was sure. There was a bit of the yellow blouse she had been wearing, and farther down, her big brown, hairy mole blinked up at him.
Maeli buried his head in the stuffed rabbit as a tear ran down his cheek. Please, Avacyn. The angel had come to him once before. She had helped him. When he was scared and lost. His mother had told him that Avacyn had come because she had prayed for the angel's help, prayed so hard that Avacyn could not ignore her. Maeli didn't know how one prayer could be harder than another prayer; he didn't know how to make his prayer so hard that Avacyn couldn't ignore it, but he knew he had to try. He screamed his prayer as loud as he could into the damp, matted fur of the stuffed rabbit. "PLEASE, AVACYN! HELP ME!"
"Avacyn no longer heeds the prayers of the unrighteous!" The voice pierced the cold pit in Maeli's stomach, and icy fear leaked out, seeping up his spine and the back of his neck. Like cold fingers, it reached up under his skull, grabbing hold of his head and turning his eyes up to the sky.
An angel.
For a fleeting moment, hope pulsed in Maeli's heart. Hope that was a lie, he knew even as he felt it; the angel hovering above was not Avacyn.
"You are all foul," the angel said, looking straight into Maeli's eyes. "We will cleanse this plane of the impure!" The angel tossed her head back and cried out with a shrieking laugh that filled the sky. Then abruptly she ceased laughing and held completely still as though frozen in the sky. "I—I'amrakul!" She dove down, her blade slicing through the air ahead of her. Maeli squeezed his eyes shut.
Please.
[Adapted with some minor, if important, edits from "Emrakul Rises" by Kimberly J. Kreines. NFB, NFI, Maeli's saga starts here, continues here, and ends...here.]
It was time. Time to pray.
Dear Archangel Avacyn. Mother told me that if I get scared, I should pray. I'm scared now.
Though flanked by cathars with gleaming blades and hard steel armor, Maeli cowered. He felt alone.
He had felt alone since he had fled the village on the day that the horrible angels had come with their rain of fire. He had run into the forest like his mother had told him, and he had not gone back to the village. He had wanted to a hundred times. But she had told him no matter what he couldn't return, and her eyes had been more serious than he had ever seen them. He had thought it best to listen. Now he wished he hadn't. Now he wished he was home.
He clutched the stuffed rabbit given to him by the old woman with the gray hair. The one who had found him in the woods and taken him into her house that smelled of sweets and stale bread. She had told him to call her Ms. Sadie, and said that her house could be his house for as long as he wanted. But that had never been what he wanted.
Dear Archangel Avacyn. I want to go home. Please. Can I go home?
There was no answer. Instead, thick writhing arms reached for him, shooting through the space between the cathars' blades; they were the same writhing arms that had burst out of Ms. Sadie's chest that very night while they ate their dinner. It had happened not long after Maeli had felt his chair shudder, and even a shorter time after a gust of wind had blown through the open shutters, bringing along a smell like too-sweet nectar. His spoon had been in his mouth when Ms. Sadie's chest had cracked open; he had been halfway through swallowing a mouthful of thin stew. Most of the stew had come out of his nose, and it had burned him, inside his head, up behind his eyes. It had made him cry. Tears had streamed down his cheeks as Ms. Sadie and her too many arms chased him.
"Stay back!" The cathars shifted in the tall grass, slicing off one arm after another. One landed at Maeli's feet. As he looked down at it, his insides twisted and squirmed; this was one of her true arms, he was sure. There was a bit of the yellow blouse she had been wearing, and farther down, her big brown, hairy mole blinked up at him.
Maeli buried his head in the stuffed rabbit as a tear ran down his cheek. Please, Avacyn. The angel had come to him once before. She had helped him. When he was scared and lost. His mother had told him that Avacyn had come because she had prayed for the angel's help, prayed so hard that Avacyn could not ignore her. Maeli didn't know how one prayer could be harder than another prayer; he didn't know how to make his prayer so hard that Avacyn couldn't ignore it, but he knew he had to try. He screamed his prayer as loud as he could into the damp, matted fur of the stuffed rabbit. "PLEASE, AVACYN! HELP ME!"
"Avacyn no longer heeds the prayers of the unrighteous!" The voice pierced the cold pit in Maeli's stomach, and icy fear leaked out, seeping up his spine and the back of his neck. Like cold fingers, it reached up under his skull, grabbing hold of his head and turning his eyes up to the sky.
An angel.
For a fleeting moment, hope pulsed in Maeli's heart. Hope that was a lie, he knew even as he felt it; the angel hovering above was not Avacyn.
"You are all foul," the angel said, looking straight into Maeli's eyes. "We will cleanse this plane of the impure!" The angel tossed her head back and cried out with a shrieking laugh that filled the sky. Then abruptly she ceased laughing and held completely still as though frozen in the sky. "I—I'amrakul!" She dove down, her blade slicing through the air ahead of her. Maeli squeezed his eyes shut.
Please.
[Adapted with some minor, if important, edits from "Emrakul Rises" by Kimberly J. Kreines. NFB, NFI, Maeli's saga starts here, continues here, and ends...here.]
