RP SECRET: The Hidden Temple of Arashimaru
"The world is still in flux . . in truth the world is -"
She pulled a strange timepiece from a pocket, clicked a button, and a second clock-face swept out of the side.
"While Remad is something like 2,214 years old, that's mythic time. In relative time, it's only as old as you, Caerden. It's a mind twister, but this Realm is a seperate self-contained timeline, and history is an extrapolation of . . ."
She paused. "I'm not being helpful. Or even answering your question. Well . . this Realm orbits a world that doesn't exist yet. Or rather, you haven't decided where it orbits."
She held out the same timepiece, and an illusionary diagram emanated from it. It was a diagram of a tree, with four branches, four roots, a trunk, and a crown.
The crown was labelled The Court.
The trunk was labelled the Valley Divine.
from the trunk, midway down, two boughs emerged, which then each forked into the four branches.
One bough was labelled "Nocturne" it forked into two branches - the upper one labelled "World of Dream." and lower one labelled "World of Night."
the other bough was labelled "Prothalamion", and forked in two branches - they upper labelled Realm of Skies, and the lower labelled Realm of Rivers.
Below that, were four roots - from left to right, labelled "Lower Ash / Lower Dust / Lower Rust / Lower Must" The Lower Ash was being gripped by a serpent, labeled 'Tarek.'
"This is the World-Tree."
She pointed to the four branches. "Each of these manifest as a sphere rotating through a spatial vacuum. The Trunk is the Valley Divine. The roots are the soil that feed the Tree and strengthen it. Remad is a sprig upon one of those branches, and manifest as a moon orbiting the branch-world, which in turn orbits the Valley, which is the trunk."
"Are you starting to get it?"
She paused.
"The Archon of the Valley Divine is Halley Meretoll, Myriad's . . . " Xixi took off her mask, revealing sharp cheekbones, warm-toned skin, arched brows, and large, dark eyes - and she was blushing deeply. "Myriad's . . Myriad's . . . beloved. That scheming bitch!" She clenched her fists. "Halley - fuck! - Halley. She's the Maestra Divina, a kind of - if I'm an angel, then she'd be the arch-angel. More than that . . she is the the protector of the Valley Divine as I am the protector of Remad. That's about as much as I want to know."