“Sometimes all you need to keep a secret is to just be yourself, and others would be hard-pressed to discern that you even hid a secret at all behind your regular demeanor.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.
Aideen woke up with a start in her tent, only to notice that it was still dark outside. The dream – if it was even a dream – was still extremely clear in her memory, all the details of the meeting and long talk she had with the Deity she suspected to be Vitalis fresh in her mind. Everything felt so real, that Aideen had some difficulty in deciding the nature of the experience she just had.
Was it her own thoughts going wild and causing such a vivid, memorable dream to occur? Or was it a true visit from the Deities during her sleep, one where she directly conversed with one of the Deities or their representation? She truly couldn’t tell at the moment, and thinking about it just furthered the confusion as she was unable to ascertain the truth one way or another.
In the end, Aideen chose to clear her mind a bit by taking a walk instead. It was still dark outside, probably an hour or two before dawn, and the night air was a rather cold one. The chill in the air felt refreshing, however, and helped her calm her mind down as she simply walked about the quiet encampment. Everyone else was asleep, apparently, other than the skeletal sentries that stood guard as always.
She walked around the camp a bit aimlessly for a while, just walking for the sake of moving around. The activity helped soothe her thoughts a little bit, though inside she still felt somewhat lost over the experience she just had. Her aimless wanderings continued for a while, until she noticed how one of the tent flaps opened and a diminutive figure came out from inside the tent in question.
“Taking a walk to clear the mind, Child?” asked Grandpa Aarin kindly when he spotted her. Aideen must have unconsciously walked towards the area where his tent was set, which was some distance away from hers.
“Yes, Grandpa,” admitted Aideen readily with a slight smile on her face as she stopped and sat down on the ground so that they were seeing eye to eye. “I just had a rather… unusual dream and was thinking about it for the past while. Couldn’t make heads or tails on whether I just dreamed it of if it might be real, if you get what I mean?”
“Ah, yes, Child, I know exactly what you likely mean,” said Grandpa Aarin with a toothy smirk on his furry face. He still adopted his mortal guise, which was a rarity since they happened to be outside, whereas he usually only used that guise in private or when he was out and about in disguise. “Let me guess. Did you receive a visit from the Divine in your dreams like I told you yesterday?”
“I- How did you know that?” Aideen asked after an initial bout of surprise. She had not shared any details of her dreams yet to Grandpa Aarin, but he seemed to be very much aware of what she had experienced, as he looked at her with sympathetic but also understanding eyes. “I don’t think I’ve told you about those dreams yet, did I?”
“Let’s just say that I am quite… familiar with how the Divine does things, child. Maybe not all too familiar in the grander scale, but most definitely more familiar with them than you are,” said Grandpa Aarin in a placating tone as he rubbed Aideen’s back in a grandfatherly gesture. “Given your experiences, it was a given that they would pay you a visit once you have the chance to take your mind off the immediate issues around you. Lo and behold, they did just that, did they not?”
“Now I really have to wonder if you had been peeking inside my mind or not, Grandpa,” said Aideen with some amusement and awe.
“We can just say that when it comes to the Divine, I am far better informed than most, Child, like I mentioned back then. I have a far better idea on how the Deities do things than what most people know, out of experience,” said Grandpa Aarin, the Bone Lord, somewhat proudly. “Although sometimes it is also a bit tiring to be in the know of the Divine’s thoughts.”
“If you had a talk with them, it was likely over more than just one subject, no? Did they perchance also talk to you about their Champions? Maybe offer you a similar position as well?” he continued, to which Aideen nodded in affirmation. “Thought so. I will be able to confirm for you one thing in this regard at the very least. The offer they gave about being their champion, the one that sounded too good to be true, is a real offer and one that has no tricks behind it. They really do just want people to be themselves as their Champions.”
“How do you know this much, Grandpa? On this particular topic, I mean. Did you have a chance to talk with some of their Champions in the past?” asked Aideen with some obvious curiosity.
“Well, Child, the Deities probably told you about their Champions and how they had many of them from the past until now, often seeking out people who would better suit the position?” asked the Bone Lord, to which Aideen nodded. “That is because those they chose inevitably get tired of being a Champion and choose to pass on to the cycle of reincarnation with time. The Deities must have gone through thousands of Champions since they first made use of such a position.”
“All but one, that is. Tohrmut, the Deity of Death, is the sole exception. He lucked out, and when he chose his first Champion back then, he made an unorthodox choice that paid dividends over the years that had since passed,” continued the Bone Lord. “I know this with certainty, because that the one and only Champion of Death that has ever existed so far is none other than myself.”
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