Forever Fall

Raftina found herself in the heavens again. It was a lucious, green environment like the Elw dimension but with a strange mix of traditional and digital infrastructure. Wires ran everywhere and poles could be seen in tree tops with the tree’s branches neatly trimmed back. She had never really been one to spend much time here, so it had often looked radically different between when she left and the next time she came back. But this hadn’t changed since before the Demon Wars. With as far back as Filgaia had been sent… Well. It made sense there wouldn’t be any progress in the heavens. Feudalism had long been abolished on Filgaia by the time they were interplanetary. But now they were completely back to that era and had been for over a thousand years. Still… It felt nice to not have to deal with the scorching desert heat and the dry descant of furious winds. Dan Dairam took her to the main communal area of the heavens which, once again, made Raftinahyperaware of how few Guardians remained. Only about two hundred remained out of over a thousand. Even the gods themselves hadn’t made it out from the wars unscathed. If Eveen had been lost, then so much else would have been. Even Odoryuk, Guardian of Life, couldn’t do much due to the lack of belief in him. Maybe between him, Ge Ramtos, and Duras Drum, they could return Endolia to life. That would make things so,somuch easier on Raftina… She looked at Dan Dairam. “I need you to get Ge Ramtos, Duras Drum, and Odoryukimmediately. I need to talk with them.” The little cat offered a bow and disappeared. She could get them herself, but with her physical limitations that no other Guardian besides her mother shared, it would take her time. But Dan Dairam could just pop between different areas without any impedance and get the three Guardians very quickly. With that request made, she went to the kitchens which weremassive. Guardians were mostly spiritual beings, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t and wouldn’t enjoy a good meal. Aside from Raftina and Endolia, a Guardian could have a physical form and if that form was ‘killed,’ then it would take for them to reform. But they could still be in the heavens and interact with the other Guardians without any issue. They just needed to wait for a bit for their physical energies to reset and so they could begin interacting with the mortal races again. But the kitchens were quiet, her the only one there. She sighed and started digging through the various pots and pans. Greden, the Guardian of the Home and Kitchen, could almost always have been found here, making meals for the other Guardians. Her cooking had been some of the best Raftina ever tasted. Even Raftina, foodie that she was, couldn’t make a meal as good as Greden’s. But Greden, despite being a relative pacifist, had joined the war effort and been killed for it. Not just her physical form, but her entiresoulhad been shattered. Over eight hundred Guardiansshattered. She probably wouldn’t be able to bring them back correctly even if she was at the height of her power. Only Endolia would know how to bring them back in the proper manner…and she needed to heal the elemental Guardians so they would stop being so antagonistic toward humans… They had been damaged and were no longer amenable to humans as they had once been… She managed to get a meal together for herself and went out to the dining area. It was quiet. Too quiet. She was still used to this place being jovial, loud, and a communal area for the Guardians together. Now… It was just her. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for Dan Dairam to come with the three requested Guardians. Ge Ramtos was in his most usual human form, a young man with rainbow-colored hair and a macaw on his shoulder. Duras Drum was in his usual bug form. Odoryuk took his beautiful, blue, crystalline unicorn form. “Lady Raftina, to what do we owe this visit?” Odoryuk tilted his head to the side, his beautiful blue mane rippling despite the harsher overhead lights not being natural. “You don’t usually call on your fellow Guardians for help.” She winced a little but it was true. She preferred to just work on her own… She was more about politics and personal relationships than actually doing Guardian work. It wasn’t that she shirked her abilities; she just thought she was of more use boots on the ground rather than being in the heavens and pencil pushing. “And what a curious assortment of us that you’ve called.” “Come on, Rafti… Both Dura and I have souls to deal with.” Ge Ramtos ran his hand through his multi-colored hair, his macaw squawking a bit. He’d found that bird and had given it eternal life… It was the longest-lived animal on Filgaia since it spent most of its time in the underworld… But it got treated well, at least. “I know both of you are incredibly busy with souls and the afterlife, but the thing is, I need your abilities. Ge Ramtos, of the remaining Guardians, you’re the best with finding and managing souls. Odoryuk, you’re the Guardian of Life… You helped Elimna come back. Duras Drum, you’re the Guardian of Death and are the force of Death itself…” “Wait…” Ge Ramtos’ eyes widened. “Are you thinking—” She nodded. “I think you three might be able to help my mother come back. We don’tneedyour expanded abilities to do so. Odoryuk, we just need you to build a body. Ge Ramtos and Duras Drum, you are the best at finding and managing souls. Iknowit’ll be difficult especially without Sophia, the Guardian of Magic, to sort through the ley lines, but… You three are our best shot. The hard part will be getting Cecilia to part with the Tear Drop so you can put her soul back together if you can find it.” “Raftina, I don’t know if this will work or not…” Duras Drum said. “We are not your mother.Youare the best chance we have if we wait long enough—” “Do you guysreallythink Filgaia can survive in its current shape for another two, three hundred years? Especially you, Odoryuk? Ifanyoneknows the state of the planet, it’syou.” The horse’s ears went down and he turned his head away. “If we had help from interstellar allies, that’d be one thing. But wedon’t. All we have is what here’s on Filgaia and maybe the Elw dimension if they’re willing to help. Elaeah recently came back and is in Adlehyde castle…” That still broke her heart. She pushed the feelings down, though. Thankfully, the other Guardians didn’t react as they had more important things to focus on than Raftina’s love life. “I’m not sure if we can convince another Elw or two to come here to Filgaia since they’ll all be in such pain feeling the planet scream in agony. But they’ve kept up on technology; some of the older ones may be able to help us reach interstellar allies if any remain.” She couldn’t be sure on that. She was trying. The other Guardians had grown complacent and didn’t seem to want to think on how to help Filgaia. “Odoryuk, you have a good sense of how the environment is all over the planet, right? Could you translate those to maps?” The unicorn nodded a bit, though his ears remained back. “Yes… If you get me a map of Filgaia, even if it’s old, I could draw up the current weather patterns. What are you thinking?” “If nothing else…bring trees from here and the Elw dimension to start replanting. That might help slow the desertification. You would probably best know where to plant those, right?” He nodded. “Good. Honestly, it would be good for the Guardians that aren’t you, Ge Ramtos and Duras Druma, to do. I know you guys are busy in the afterlife and dealing with death in general. But other than that…? The Guardians don’tdomuch. If they see us, belief will spread like wildfire.” “This…is very true.” Odoryuk shook his head. “I’m just not sure about reclaiming Lady Endolia’s soul though…” “It might be a long shot, but it’s our best bet. If only we had Sophia… She couldeasilypick out what are bits of Mother’s soul and what are the ley lines.” Raftina sighed. Sophia had been one of the most important Guardians before the Demon Wars. She wasn’t thesourceof magic itself, but she was an arbiter and a great teacher of magic. No wonder the Crest Graph was such a mess of a system. Itfunctioned, but it was unrefined since it had been made by mortal hands instead of divine ones. Granted, her own daughter, Lumina, had been the one to figure out the Crest Graph. She couldn’t betooharsh on the system, but it didn’t make it easy when she saw how much more streamlined other magic systems from other planets had been in the past. “We don’t though,” Ge Ramtos said. “Lady Endolia isn’tinthe afterlife… It might take years,decadeseven to figure out which bits are her soul and which bits are the ley lines.” “I believe in you guys. I would sort myself, but I don’t have the power to access the ley lines without being broken apart into smithereens.” Raftina shook her head. The ley lines were too powerful for her to attempt to access with a physical body right now. She simply couldn’t risk it at all. She was the last line of defense for Filgaia right now. If she died in some form or fashion, she’d be stuck in the heavens forever. Unless Odoryuk made her another body, but she doubted it’d be the same as the one she’d beenborninto… She wasn’t sure how Guardians could act like nothing happened when they went from body to body. Ge Ramtos and Duras Drum looked unconvinced but bowed to her. Despite having been created by her mother, they still treated her with nothing but the utmost respect as if she’d always been a Guardian Lord. “We’ll see what we can do, but…we don’t have any guarantees,” Duras Drum said. “That’s all I ask: your best. I’ll go down and get the Tear Drop from Cecilia, then come back and give it to you.” She knew how hard it would be for Cecilia to give it up. For the young queen, it was a symbol of connection for herownmother. It hurt Raftina to not have it because it was literally herownmother’s soul, but she knew how short mortal lives were, so she didn’t hold it against Cecilia. It had been passed down the matriarchal line of the Adlehyde family since Lumina’s life for over twelve hundred years. From mother to daughter… It was so strange to think that her own mother’s soul was an artifact of great power when it was just a shred of creation power. “I can do it a lot quicker,” Dan Dairam said. “Does that mean youstealingit?” Raftina’s expression and tone were flat. The cat’s ears flicked back and he rubbed the back of his neck. “That’sexactlywhat I thought.” She shook her head. “Give me like fifteen minutes and I’ll be back with it. I shouldtalk to herabout it first.” Cecilia had known this day would possibly come, but she wouldn’t knowexactlyif it would or not. But now that Raftina had an idea… Well. “In the meanwhile, you three talk to Eveen. She might have an idea of how to better figure out how to pick apart Mother’s soul from the ley lines.” Eveen was the Guardian of Knowledge and was almost nigh omnipotent. She could and would know how to handle most things. If anyone would have an idea of how to pick apart Endolia’s soul quickly and easily, it’d be her. If not… Well, Ge Ramtos and Duras Drum would just have to brute force it somehow. She looked at Dan Dairam and he took her back down to Adlehyde Castle. They were outside of a meeting room and Raftina knocked before entering. Cecilia looked at them. “Oh, Lady Raftina… What can I do for you?” “Your Majesty, can I speak with you for a short time? You can get back to your meetings soon enough; I promise.” She felt bad leaving Cecilia alone entirely, but with everything that had happened, she just needed closure and to speak to the other Guardians. She still wasn’t sure where she sat on the entire Elaeah thing, but that wasn’t important at the moment. She just needed to speak to Cecilia. It wouldn’t take that long, but she knew that losing the Tear Drop would be hard on the young queen. “Of course, Lady Raftina.” Cecilia bowed to her advisors and slipped out of the room along with Raftina. “What is it?” “I need the Tear Drop. I have a potential lead on how to potentially revive my mother and since it contains a part of her soul, we need it.” Cecilia frowned, her hand going up to the small piece of luminescent jewelry. “I knew it was possible this day would come but…” Raftina nodded. “It isn’teasy.I understand what it means to you since it means something to me as well. But I’ll be frank: even Odoryuk said he wasn’t sure if Filgaia could last the next two, three hundred years without my mother.” She couldn’t be too upset at Cecilia for not wanting to give it up. Especially after giving it to the Metal Demons had been the start of the Second Demon War… They had nearly destroyed the planet when given the little piece of jewelry. Even with only a shred of Endolia’s soul, it still had the powers of creation to the point that it couldmajorlyimpact Filgaia. Thankfully, the Demons had been defeated once and for all and would never be a worry to any galaxy again. Cecilia sighed and took it off, offering it to Raftina with a shaking hand. “Here…” Raftina pulled Cecilia close and kissed her head. “I’m sorry to take away something that has so much meaning to you, but it’ll be worth it; I promise. If we manage to revive my mother, then you can get the necklace itself back… It just won’t have the bit of her soul in it.” The jewel in the Tear Drop was special, meant to hold a small piece of a soul in it. The jewel would just be empty and not have any power any longer. She wasn’t sure if the power was the thing that meant the most to Cecilia or if it was the piece of jewelry. Cecilia rested her head against Raftina’s shoulder. “I hope they can…” “Me too.” She kissed Cecilia’s head again and hugged her before Cecilia let go and Raftina took the Tear Drop. With that done, Cecilia went back into the meeting room and Raftina looked at Dan Dairam. “Okay, let’s go.” She then found herself back in the heavens. Eveen, Ge Ramtos, and Duras Drum were all in deep discussion, but looked at Raftina and Dan Dairam. “Eveen has abrilliantidea! It’ll just take a bit of time,” Ge Ramtos said. “What is it?” Raftina blinked and walked over, sitting back down. “Do you remember the planet Valniri?” Eveen asked. Raftina covered her mouth, wracking her brain to try to remember. She’d been to so many planets over the course of millennia it was hard to remember all of them unless they had something specific going on. She shook her head. “They had a magic system based off the soul.” Raftina blinked. “I think I remember now… They could actively manipulate souls and draw power from them to harness for the power grid.” It was kind of horrifying when put that way. But they used plant souls to draw from the power grid, small plants that could grow quickly and be replenished soon after the others had wilted and died. No sentient or sapient beings were actively harmed in the use of their power grid. It was unorthodox but itworkedfor them. “What exactly are you thinking?” “There’s some old Valniri tech on Malduke… I remember Anselma. She had a special interest in Valniri tech. She escaped into the Elw dimension. And since they still have large amounts of natural resources…maybe Anselma can rework that Valniri tech and make it work forus.If she can…then we may be able to return Lady Endolia within a few weeks to months. It’d just depend on how long it took Anselma to work with the tech and how badly degraded it is. But most of Malduke is still mostly operational due to how good its systems were designed,” Eveen explained. “Honestly, it may not even be in that bad of shape.” Raftina blinked. “That’sgenius.I never would’ve remembered having Valniri tech on Malduke.” Then again, it wasn’t like she had spent a lot of time in the various areas of Malduke. She didn’t know every nook and cranny of the artificial moon colony. Eveen could keep track of almost everything on Filgaia with how she’d been designed by Endolia. There was a reason she’d been kept in the heavens the entire First Demon War… If they lost Eveen, a lot of knowledge would’ve been forever gone. Like now… She knew where Valniri tech wasandhow to find somebody that would know how to repair it. Raftina never would’ve been able to do that. She had limits on her mind and body like any other mortal being. Eveen, being purely spiritual and made to be basically omniscient, didn’thavethose strict limitations… She wasbeyondglad Eveen was still around. “It’ll just take me a lil bit to find the tech and Anselma… The hard part will be convincing her to come to Filgaia.” Raftina frowned at that. Yeah, convincing an Elw to come to a dying planet when they were nature elementals was going to be a mess. “Maybe I can help?” “The Elw always have respected you more than a lot of the other Guardians for…obvious reasons.” Eveen was at least trying to be diplomatic about Elaeah’s death… Raftina nodded. “All right then.” “Back we go. Everyone ready?” Dan Dairam asked. Raftina and Eveen nodded. They were back outside of the Elw pyramid and, soon enough, found themselves back in the Elw dimension. Guh, she wished she could have this level of belief on Filgaia. She gotwhiplashcoming to and from the Elw dimension and going back to Filgaia. It was like going from a pleasant spring breeze to being in a boiling pot of water. Having so much belief was a balm to her while having none was like dying in screaming heat. Eveen started off and Raftina followed her, making their way to the same Elw city that Raftina had been in only hours before. They stopped at a small building which had teleport pads in it. Eveen and the Elw at the counter went back and forth forquitea while, the man obviously not wanting to go out of his way to help. Raftina sighed and stepped in. “Sir, do you know who I am? Do you know who you’re talking to?” She motioned to herself and Eveen. He shook his head. “No. I was born after the Demon War.” “I am Lady Raftina, the Guardian of Love and one of the four Guardian Lords. This is Lady Eveen, Guardian of Knowledge. I understand that your life here is vastly different than the Elw that can remember living on Filgaia with the constant influence from humans, Tenno, and Guardians, but I thought you would have learned at leastsomethingabout respecting the gods themselves.” She put on her Lady Raftina mask. Her voice was calm, cool, and calculated, but there was an edge of intimidation there. She saw him shift uncertainly as she spoke up. Good. Strike the fear of creation into him. He hadnoroom to deny service to a Guardian. “I…didn’t know it was you, Lady Raftina. I just saw this little girl—” “Little girl?! I’m one of the most powerful Guardians on all of Filgaia!” Raftina winced internally. Eveen usually took the form of a little girl because it was the form she’d been created in. But anybody with a rudimentary understanding of the Guardians woulddefinitelyhave recognised her. But if he was less than twelve hundred years old… It only made sense. It didn’t seem like the Guardians came to the Elw dimension a lot. The Elw had been without oversight aside from their elders for over a millennium. She could definitely understand younger ones not recognising the Guardians… Raftina shook her head. “No. This is about the fate of Filgaia. I know you younger Elw probably believe you don’t need Filgaia or humans, but bear in mind how tenuous a setup like this is. If Filgaia dies, then the Elw will die as well. I’m not entirely sure of the mechanics of this creation as I wasn’t around for it, but even so… I know Filgaia and I know how the Elw function on a biological level. This dimension willnothold forever. If Filgaia dies, then the Elw die.” She couldn’t impress that on him enough. He probably took everything for granted; it was definitely how he sounded. He probably thought the Elw would be able to survive forever even if Filgaia died a slow, painful death… The man bowed his head. “Okay, Lady Raftina. What do you two need?” She looked at Eveen who was clearly more than a little pissed off. But the other Guardian let out a breath and laid out all her needs. The man started looking through his computer, muttering ‘Anselma’ under his breath. “Okay, I found her in our databases. I can send you to the settlement she lives in.” Raftina smiled. “Thank you very much.” They stepped onto the teleport pad and were whisked away almost instantly to another building. The woman gave them directions to where Anselma lived and they made their way over to the woman’s house. It was a much smaller settlement than the one they’d been in previously, consisting of pretty much just a couple roads and a handful of houses. To the naked eye, the houses didn’t stand out too much from the dense, lush forests they stood in, but since Raftina was more than familiar with traditional Elw construction styles, she knew what to look for. Eveen didn’t take too long to find a woman hanging clothes outside. Her green eyes widened and she dropped to her knees. “Lady Raftina! Lady Eveen!” She dipped her head to the ground and Raftina shifted uncomfortably. “Please rise. We have a request of you, Anselma,” Raftina said. The Elw stayed down for a moment before standing and brushing off her clothes. Raftina explained what they needed though Anselma was quiet for a bit. It was definitely a hard proposition, no doubt… Having to go back to Filgaia like that… The Elw had fled for a reason. She could understand… EvenseeingFilgaia in its current state was hard for Raftina. She couldn’t imagine how much worse it was for the Elw who had a deep attachment to the planet and were essentially nature elementals given bodily form. They interfaced with the planet on a deep level and could feel its energy. The planet was dying a slow, painful death so to go there and feel it… She couldn’t blame Anselma for stopping to consider it at all. “I’d rather not go back to Filgaia, but…itwillbe the easiest way to deal with this. The Guardians aside from Ge Ramtos and Duras Drum must travel to and from our realm just like any other person, so it would be a hassle to send you guys here every time I need something.” Anslema sighed. “I’ll come. I’ll feel bad leaving my husband and children, but you’re right; the fate of the Elw also depends on the planet itself. Once life ceases to exist on Filgaia, it’ll only take a few centuries for the entire planet to wither and die. I’m rusty on Nalviri technology and such since it’s been over a thousand years, but I think I remember enough that, if I got my hands on the technology, I could repair it.” Eveen clapped her hands together. “Thank you! We can set you up a small house near the Elw pyramid so, that way, if you need anything, you can easily go to and from. I can travel to and from Malduke without any issues, but since our resources on Filgaia are so limited…” Eveen frowned. Anselma nodded. “All right. How long will the house take?” “Not long. I can just materialise pretty much anything in the heavens and bring it down. So I can just transfer a house from the heavens over to where we’ll be,” Eveen said. “Just know it won’t have electricity and such.” Anselma sighed but didn’t argue. They headed back to the Elw pyramid and were back on Filgaia relatively quickly. Raftina could easily see Anselma was not having a good time from the moment they stepped back onto the planet. Her long rabbit-like ears drooped down and her body posturing became more withdrawn. Eveen disappeared and Raftina walked over to Anselma. “Thank you very much for agreeing to do this. It…means a lot to me and if things work out like we hope, Filgaia will be lush and populated again before long.” Anselma sighed. “You know Filgaia will never be the same again, right, Lady Raftina? It’s been over a millennium since all but Mariel have stood on this planet. Humans are known for their discriminatory practices. Do youreallythink the Elw will be able to integrate in on a good-faith basis?” Raftina’s smile faltered a bit. “I understand how humans can be, Anselma;trust me.Being half human and half Tenno… Well. How old are you?” “A bit over three thousand years.” “You don’t remember the time before same-sex couples were accepted then and how much worse discrimination used to be. Ireallyunderstand how tribalistic humans can be. Elaeah and I were hardly accepted because we were both half different races. Well. The Elw accepted Elaeah as she was, but she was shunned by human society and I was treated as a hybrid.” The term stung, but she didn’t let it show. She just remained stoic and impassive as always. That term had been flung around like nothing at her in the early years of Filgaia. Thankfully, discrimination had decreasedmassivelyas time went on but it didn’t mean prejudice didn’t exist. It just meant it had to become more subtle and much more difficult to track and prosecute. She despised it, but people would hang onto their preconceived notions of others no matter what. Tribalistic nature couldn’t be bred or legislated away. Anselma shook her head. “No, I don’t, and I’m glad I never knew it… I can’t imagine how hard that had to have been.” “It was hard.” That was all she really wanted to say. Remembering things around Elaeah was hard. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like Anselma was too keen on trying to get details out of Raftina on the era. Eveen appeared a few minutes later with a fully formed house right out of nowhere and motioned for Anselma to go in. “There you go! I managed to jerry rig some running water with you by doing some inter-realm backflips with Dan Dairam, but you at least have running water. No electricity, but at least running water. The tech I talked about is also inside in the study. It’s got a living room, a study, and a couple bedrooms just in case anybody wants to visit you.” Anselma let out a noise. “LikeanyElw is going to want to visit me.” She shook her head and went into the house. “Thank you, though. I can give an initial assessment if you’d like.” Raftina nodded. “If you would be so kind.” She followed Anselma into the house and into the decently sized study where several large pieces of technology sat on the floor. Anselma looked over them and nodded. “Honestly, they’re not in too bad of shape, considering their age… I should have them repaired in a couple of days if I can get the spare parts. And they’re the type of tech weneed.They can separate souls from pure energy and convert souls into energy or energy into souls. It shouldn’t take me too long to have your mother back as long as I can get some support from Ge Ramtos.” Raftina felthopeswell inside of her chest and she bowed deeply to Anselma. “Thank you.” At this point, what were a few days? “How long would it take for the tech to sort through all of the ley line energy?” “That…is another question entirely. But if you have some sort of soul remnant, then it should be able to sort pretty quickly. Maybe a couple days?” Raftina nodded. “There’s the Tear Drop which has a small piece of Mother’s soul. So you’re saying in a week or less we could have her soul back?” “It can’tpiecethe soul back together on its own. It can just find the bits that have been put into the planet. You’ll need to have a body made in some other way.” “That’s where Odoryuk comes in.” “Sounds like we’ll have her back then.” “I wish I could help, but I don’t understand the technology in the way you do since it’s not like I went to Nalviri a lot… We had other delegates for that.” She found the use of souls for energy to be pretty disturbing even if it was justplantsouls most of the time. But it was also a way of capital punishment… If someone committed especially heinous acts, they could and would be hooked up into the power grid and their soul would be converted into energy for use. That was horrifying to her, considering Guardians were purely spiritual beings aside from herself and her mother… It was evenmorehorrifying now that it had been back then since she’d seen so many Guardians shattered over time. “I’ll get it done. Don’t worry too much.” Anselma smiled. “Have a good day, Lady Raftina. Feel free to visit and check on things whenever you want.” “I’ll check in a couple days then.” She smiled and nodded, then left the house. This was goingmuchbetter than she’d thought… She went back to the heavens and to her personal home which hadn’t been used much… Everything was as it’d been before the Demon Wars… She still had clothes from her childhood… She collapsed in an exhausted heap on her couch, closing her eyes. Normally she wouldn’t just abandon people, but in this case… She would just sleep the time away. Elaeah could wait. She would be too antsy to focus onanythingwith the hope of her mother being returned within the week. She asked Dan Dairam to grab her medications from Adlehyde which he did and she laid down on the couch, eyes closed as she waited for them to kick and hopefully help kill time until her mother was revived…