I Am With You

Before these recent revelations, the closest Voah had ever come to experiencing the truth and power of the Pillars was during the time she had spent with the other pilgrim Aspects and Holy Warriors in the Forsaken Lands. It was a great wonder how she, or anyone else, could have survived there for so long and escape the clutches of that foul place, regardless of the blessings upon them. Above all, it was their faith that kept them alive and drove them forward to complete their duties and on through to return to Mizar.

It was all quite poetic that the Goddess of the Moon had charged Voah with the task of holding back the oncoming tide of the Maleficium, just as Ereuhin’s bastion Shrine city continued to successfully hold back the cursed mists of the Forsaken Lands.

Deeply concerned about this mysterious threat of which the Old Mother spoke, it was the fruit embellishment on top of all of her layers of worry. Was Ereuhin afraid? Voah breathed and knew decidedly then that she would have to reinstill her skill of hiding her negative thoughts away and find hope and faith to lean on. They needed each other, the Pillars and the faithful.

In the aftermath of all her recent losses and setbacks, Voah needed to collect and to mend the tatters and holes of the banner that was her faith; to once again bear the standard that had carried her through her formative years; the faith that lifted the heavy burdens from body and mind; the faith that allowed her to shine a light on her darkest thoughts (which were different back then) and turn them into fuel for her path forward forged with the power of pride, retribution, and atonement.

Back in those days she was desperately trying to prove to herself that she was good enough, now, she just needed guidance, she needed a victory.

It seemed that if she was to survive the onslaught of impending doom, her victory would be hard won and come at great cost. But even if Voah wanted to, how was she to persuade the others to stay as well if their plans had already been set in motion?

What would they think of her? The way her actions and moods tended to swing like a pendulum? To forsake Gonyaul? well… at least for a time…

She hoped Alexis and Tarmen would understand her perspective and her decision.

Ereuhin had all but confirmed by her divine word that he was alive. At any rate, she made these things sound like certainties.

Her prophecies also confirmed those from Berus, that Voah would be there to meet the Cryomancer woman. And this was to be the FINAL time? Only one of them would walk away?

The anger of Voah’s past, that she had clung to for so long, merely bubbled inside with a mix of pity. ‘Poor girl’ she thought, ‘…but who better to put the Mizaran witch out of her misery?’ This was but a small hint of the confidence that the Night Mistress had already restored in Voah just by treating with her and making her feel essential to the outcome of the conflict.

“Ké en eçor ha,” Voah nodded resolutely and pulled her sword to her chest before prostrating herself. She looked up from her low position, “I am with you, Old Mother. And I will need your guidance. We all will. What about Alexis and Tarmen? Due to the urgency of affairs, what more information can you spare?”

She anxiously awaited any subsequent holy terms.

*Ké en eçor ha. = Then it must be so / So be it.