"Sorry. . . I didn't think anyone was nearby." Rayla sighs in embarassment.
"If I did nearly vaporize you at some point please don't hate me?" she asks. "I'm hated too much by too many people because of my tendency to nearly vaporize people."
Aviv raised a brow at this and sighed. “I don’t hate you. You didn’t know. Even if I did, I don’t have the energy to really care. If you spend any decent amount of time here, do you have any good napping spot recommendations?” He rubbed at his eyes, pushing their glasses upward. “These benches aren’t exactly comfortable.”
Rayla thinks for a moment.
"Nowhere, since I usually practice my magic in this small garden realm - nobody really comes here. But I can find you a better garden to sleep in with plants that are comfier than any bed you've evr slept in." she replies after a bit.
“Huh.” It seemed he wasn’t really wasn’t supposed to be here anyway. They just wanted to sleep, and thought the Heaven Realms might have better options than the mortal realm, but knew they had to be cautious. Extremely cautious, in fact, if someone like this girl was just walking around with that kind of power.
“That would be nice of you. I would appreciate it.” The level of comfort may not really affect whether or not he would actually go to sleep, but it was better than a bench. “What’s your name?”
Okay!" Rayla says brightly, startinng to walk towards a small, overgrown path.
"I'm Rayla Cressida Brentworth - but just call me Rayla or 'Purple' or 'Explosion' if you want. All three are fine!" she replies cheerfully. "Who are you?"
They started following her, trying not to fall behind or yawn too much. “Aviv Perez. Encantado de… sorry, nice to meet you, Rayla.” He was surprised he had been able to speak English up until this point, given how long they’ve been without sleep.
Rayla chuckles. "Don't worry about it, I find myself slipping into Draconian sometimes. Anwways, yeah."
She lead Aviv down a series of wide and narrow paths and, eventually, she sees the other garden realm ahead, seperated by half an acre of void space. She smiles.
"Here we are." she grins, turning to look back at Aviv. "If this doesn't suit your fancy just say 'Rayla' really, really loudly and I'll find you. I can make you your own little space."
Aviv was too tired to pay attention to the directions they were going. He just kept walking and hoped that the next step would be their last.
Eventually, they slowed and focused on the garden ahead of them. They squinted their eyes and adjusted his glasses before focusing back on Rayla. “Gracias. It looks nice,” he said, the words a little slow and mumbled. He started making their way across the void.
Rayla smiles. "Remember, call me if this place doesn't work out for you."
After calling that out she heads back the way they'd come, back to her bench, sinking deep into thought once more.
Aviv had little hope, and knew that calling for her wouldn’t change anything. The way to the garden was a blur. It was beautiful and lush, but he didn’t care much for that at the moment. They found a nice tree to sit under, the grass beneath it soft like down. Aviv closed his eyes. He did not fall asleep.
After a couple days, Rayla starts to wonder what had happened to Aviv.
So, with little other options, she makes her way back to the garden she'd shown the new demigod, trying to find him.
He was under a tree.
"Um- hi." she says. "Still no luck?"
Sleep did come over them, eventually. It came and went like the rain, though, never for long and seemingly at random. Aviv had been awake for about 27 hours by the time Rayla came back, though it wasn’t like they were keeping track.
They were curled up beneath the tree in the soft grass, his glasses clipped to his shirt. He honestly felt miserable. Maybe he should eat something. There was fruit in the garden, after all.
“Hey.” Their gaze flickered in Rayla’s direction. “Eh, sort of. At least it’s comfortable here.”
Rayla chuckles.
"I'm glad you find it comfortable here. I come here sometimes when I can't sleep and listen to the insects." she replies, sitting down next to Aviv and relaxing.
Aviv sighed. “It is times like these where I find it truly ironic that if I touch you right now, I could put you to sleep. Yet, I cannot do the same for myself.” He closed his eyes.
"You can't use your power on yourself?" Rayla asks, genuinely curious. "I thought every demigod could use their powers in some way on theirself."
“I cannot.” They sighed again. “Not only ironic; at this point, it’s cruel.”
(Sorry for short reply)
(It's alright!)
"That truly is cruel. If I couldn't use my powers on myself, I couldn't even begin to-" Rayla starts, before she feels a faint rumble through the earth.
"What was that?" she asks quietly, on edge now.
Aviv opened his eyes. The rumbling passed through their body, considering he was laying on the ground. He quickly sat up. “Hm. No clue. Don’t ask me.”
Rayla slowly stands, looking around warily.
"It sees sa-" she starts to say before a larger scale tremble runs through the Heavens.
"Nope, not safe!" she decides, hauling Aviv to his feet.
(bump-)
(Hiiii)
He stumbled a little before being grabbed by Rayla. They grumbled, feeling more inconvenienced than anything else. They just wanted to sleep for more than an hour. Was that too much to ask?
(Hello? Would you like to continue this?)
(Sorry, it's been a bit since I've been in a writing mood; losses and whatnot. I'll be back to writing in the next few weeks though!)
(That’s totally okay dude. I’m sorry, take your time)
Rayla looks around frantically at the plumes of smoke and ash and blue-silver light that were erupting all across the heavens as. . . something seemed to reach up from beneath and start tearing into the realms of the gods.
As this is happening, strange four-armed creatures with grey skin and long, greasy, matted hair start climbing up as well, weilding crude but brutally barbed spears and sharp, bent swords. Some even carried greatbows larger than them - and it was clear that each one of these creatures was at least 8 feet in height.
"Oh. . . my gods. . ." she whispers, horrified, as the sky overhead, even in this idyllic garden realm, started to go dark. "How. . .?"
She looks around, for the first time doubting her own sanity. She narrows her eyes, her focus zooming in on distant booms, and realizes that the army of the war god was now being deployed. . . and decimated. She was shocked. They were nearly indestructible, and yet they were being ripped apart like paper in the hands of a toddler.
"Aviv, we need to go. Now!" she says. Everything was too much to process, so she just wasn't processing, instead focusing on what was right here, right now.
Aviv followed Rayla’s gaze, quickly grabbing his glasses and putting them on. He squinted, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. A soft breath left their lips as the scene unfolded. “Ay, por el amor de…” he muttered. Their eyes flickered around as the garden darkened around them.
They looked over to Rayla. “Uh, where?” Obviously, away from the strange creatures and the darkening skies, but they needed a sense of direction. He took Rayla’s hand so he could follow her without being separated.
"I don't fucking know!" Rayla says bluntly. She grabs Aviv by the wrist and starts pulling him quickly to the edges of the garden.
As she reaches the edge of it, her body lengthens and gains mass, sprouting wings and a tail, her skin darkening to purple scales.
As she leaps off the edge, her transformation to her dragonoid form finishes and her wings snap out to catch the warm but ashy winds, carrying her far above the heavens below.
From this vantage point, one could clearly see the heavens were on fire with a strange blue-black flame, intertwined with streaks of silver and magenta on occasion as the gods fight off whatever is invading, but even someone as low-ranked as Rayla or Aviv in the hierarchy could see that it was futile.
In a matter of seconds, the heavens and her legions had fallen.
Rayla soars away, into the oncoming black smoke, Aviv still clutched in her front limbs.
Oh, okay then. Apparently she had the same idea. Aviv took a deep breath and forced his muscles to move, propelling their legs to keep up with Rayla. Admittedly, he did get scared when they approached the edge of the garden. He started to wonder if he managed to fall asleep after all, and this was all a dream. But Rayla’s grip was still firm, even as she transformed, so the feeling of her hand must be real.
They gasped as they leapt off the edge of the garden, but their voice was stolen by the winds. He grasped onto her scaly limbs tightly, only able to look down at the carnage below for a moment before they had to close their eyes.
Rayla had to dive and weave frantically. There were things in the smoke, creatures and gods and rampant magic alike whipping past faster and faster by the second until their was naught but a constant fizzle of death surrounding them.
They break through, and Rayla looks around frantically, before. . .
She looks down.
The path is clear.
She angles herself downwards, tucks in her wings, and begins a high speed dive down to earth.
Various realms of heaven flash by, each looking more and more barren and desolate the closer they get to the bottom of heaven, until the bottommost layers looked like blackened fields of corpses and that ever-present smoke.
They flash by, and Rayla roars, loudly. A rift just big enough to let them pass through the magical barrier that kept humans from entering or noticing the heavenly, and they enter the world of humans.
It was strangely peaceful down here.
Despite the constant sounds of traffic and humanity in general, it was a much livelier and more open space than one would think.
Rayla finds a secluded place to land and transforms back to her normal form, Aviv tumbling from her claws.
Aviv almost thought he had let go once or twice. The only times he opened his eyes was to see if they were still holding on, and not free falling through the smoky air. They didn’t see the carnage and the destruction, but they knew it was there.
He winced as Rayla roared. After more loud, shifting sounds, the air seemed to change. As if they had passed through some barrier. When Aviv opened his eyes again, he realized they had. A familiar world was spread below them, quickly growing closer.
They closed their eyes again, and in a moment, he was thrust from Rayla’s grip and rolling on the ground. They grunted loudly and recovered, albeit with some scratches. He walked back over to Rayla and sat down, cleaning his glasses and trying to recover.
(Are they in a certain part of the world or does it matter?)