Transcript

RS021



The hole in the floor bathes half of Dal's room in orange light. Her boot is dropped in front of the ladder. She struggles to shed her collar and wooden leg as well. Her face is twisted in anger and grief.


She throws herself backward onto her bed. Lit candles glowing green are on a nightstand nearby.


Weeping, Dal clings to a tattered blanket, her teeth clenched.


She opens her eyes, a tear rolls across the bridge of her nose as she looks into the green light.


A bird skull sits on the nightstand next to the candles. Drawings of her childhood home and of herself holding Qebrus' hand hang in the background.

RS021
Posted on 20190910 by Rising Sand

RS021

Images of birds are common in each of the cultures of Erj. The idea that there once existed a beast that could navigate the sky as freely as a ship through water inspires sylph and erjan artisans alike, and few tire of imagining what these incredible creatures might have looked like. To the suneaters, birds hold a more explicitly spiritual significance, as they are believed to have been heralds of the sun—their god. Suneaters are typically seen adorned with avian remains as a display of reverence, and they view the casual fancy of birds by other cultures as somewhat disrespectful.