A vestige of creation, this place does not bear all the creative touches of a realm crafted by divine hands. No, this place is forged by the primordial forces of creation, thus it is uniform in both form and function. The Myopic Fields of Death are a gray void. Two flat plains, one making up the sky and the other the earth stretch out above and below and where they meet is impossible to determine as they're the same dull gray hue. This can be disorienting as one puts one foot in front of the other, yet feels like they're making no progress. Having no features of landmarks is not a natural sensation, whether that's to a mortal or a god.

This place is a remnant of Primordial Death. To linger here too long is to succumb to death. This is also the place where all dead eventually end up, at least for now. It is not a reward, nor is it a punishment. It simply is. Here the souls of the dead linger in a sort of fugue, hardly aware of themselves or their surroundings.

The Myopic Fields of Death is a bleak, featureless waste. Hostile to life in all forms, any mere mortal who were to enter this place would immediately succumb and join the ranks of the dead. Even the divine should tread this place with care and purpose, for to linger too long would spell death even to a god.

Rules of the Myopic Fields of Death
-Gods lose 5 health for every day they're here (Each post) This is reduced by their Endurance (5-Endurance stat to a minimum of 1)
-The souls of all mortals end up here
-Primordial Death still resides somewhere here
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:34, Sun 03 July 2022.

Serek followed after the soul of a guise and arrived on a flat gray plane. There was no sky here. No mountains, or weather. Featureless, the gray floor stretched off in every direction. The sky was a matching shade of gray. It was impossible to tell where the sky and the ground met. The only thing that broke up this gray void were the shimmering figures of souls that stood about the area. They did not wear the shapes of their mortal selves, they were now simply vague wisps.

Immediately Serek would feel a cold corrosive force pressing at him. It sapped at his vitality. His skin chilled and his dripping blood started to coagulate. He could withstand this atrophy, but not for long. This place of Death would consume even a god given the time.

OOC: At the end of your post make a note that you'll lose 2 HP.

Appearing on the featureless and otherwise lifeless gray plane, Serek felt the cold grip press in around him. From the dropping blood now coagulating to the weariness on his form that he felt.

Serek knew that he could withstand this place for some time, but it would not be long. Even a god was living, especially that of blood. Yet the creatures that broke up this place were all the vague whisps of the souls of creatures and mortals once dead.

Grasping at a few, Serek tried to descern their trace or link here and where they came from. What it is they are and why they are here. Is it simply to die and await the void? Taking off with his winged arms, Serek flew above the whisps trying to find any sort of descernable location. At the very least, heading in the direct of the mass majority of whisps and souls.

-1 HP
This message was last edited by the player at 18:53, Sun 03 July 2022.

Examining this new curious corner of the world tree, Serek tried to make sense of the place. He could feel the way back to Shezmu nearby, it was more a sensation than a visible gateway. Serek set himself to trying to find where the other souls were coming from. Flapping his wings, he took flight, but made it only a short distance before he came crashing down. The uniformity between the land and the sky was disorienting. The souls vanished from view if you were any notable distance from them and so flying high above left Serek in a featureless Void. Luckily he was hardy so the crash only damaged his pride.

So Serek set himself to walking.

The souls lingering in this place become visible when he grew closer to them, then faded as he passed them. None of them were moving. Serek had thought perhaps they'd have a purpose, a place to go or reason for being here, but this plane seemed to have none of those things. These souls simply existed here.

While this first walk was discouraging as nothing immediately presented itself, logic stated that if Shezmu was connected here, then so were other places. Perhaps those gateways were the only things of interest to be found here. Or perhaps not. Time, something gods usually had in abundance, was a limiting factor here as every hour Serek felt the very nature of this world sapping his vitality.

Learning the difficult way, Serek crashed upon the gray of this void like realm. Instead staying to the ground to hold what little bearings he could, Serek pressed onward with his hooved feet.

Still latched to the feeling of Shezmu's connection to this realm. The idea that its' connection to the other realms was at least one feature he considered. A gateway from one place to another, yet aside from piercing the veil into them how was he supposed to defer which is which? Time was not in abundance within this place. Yet his questions and few answers only led to more while here.

If the souls did not move and flow with purpose, did they flow into the Fields of Death only near the realms they came from? Serek tried to grasp hold of one of the whisp like souls. If unable to, Serek Eztli tried a different method to take one. Encapsulating it in a sphere of blood. If still unable to, he went on further walking. Trying to find something that stood out among the wasteland of desolate gray.

-1 HP
This message was last edited by the player at 04:13, Wed 06 July 2022.

Stopping to examine the souls, Serek had several interesting notions. The souls might be gathered around the entrances to the realm from which they hailed. It was an interesting idea, but Serek found one soul was indistinguishable from another. In this bland field of death they were stripped of any notable physical appearance and they were gripped by apathy, none seemed inclined to talk. Trying to touch them was equally unsatisfying as the crow gods hands passed through them. Drawing on his ever seeping blood, he tried to poke, prod or entangle the souls, but his blood was a physical substance. It seemed to have no ability to touch these being made up of pure spirit.

The experiments were enlightening, albeit frustrating. Serek soon came to the conclusion that to have more impact on this place he'd require tools better suited to the mystical and spiritual than he was currently equipped. This realm of death could possibly offer benefits and resources to exploit, but Serek would need to better equip himself to take advantage of them. Still, it was enlightening for a first visit.

And so Serek walked.

OOC: Let me know how far Serek is willing to walk. Rather than have you make several "I walk" posts. You can tell me how much HP you're willing to expend exploring.

Trying as he might, Serek's efforts lead him to small discoveries and further frustrations. However he looked to the bright side of it, recollecting a calm disposition. This was only the first excursion within the Myopic Fields of Death, the God of Blood was aware this was a place he would have to return to in breaths.

Instead, Serek changed his focus to discovering as much as he could while here. Stretching himself wisely, Serek wandered the gray plains of death with haste. Drawing out his more robust physique against the plane's sapping ability.

Willing to give up 3 more HP exploring.

Walking forward, exploring this plane of Death was a disconcerting feeling. With each step Serek felt like he was making no progress. Like he was stuck in place, going through the motion. Despite the lack of well... anything, Serek persevered. The decay of the place ate away at the God of Blood, his skin grew ashen and the dripping of his stitches scabbed and blackened. Without day or night it was hard to say for how long exactly Serek walked. It was many miles no doubt. His body could have gone on for thousands of miles more, the strain of walking was not the issue, it was the corrosive nature of this place. Eventually he stopped. Ahead of him, behind him, to the right and left, everything looked the same. It was as though he'd made no progress at all.

+40% Knowledge: Death

However, Serek had a better sense of this place. Death was not supposed to be like this. No, this gray wastelands of spirits was a vestige of the before-times, the age of absolutes that had existed before this unnamed World Tree was born. Serek had a sense that death should be... more. Whether there be punishment, reward, or simply just some sort of place. Death should be more than just a flat gray void. For now, that's what it was. But it did not have to be forever. There was nothing Serek could do regarding the afterlife at this point. But just knowing that this was what lay beyond the veil was a great step forward of knowing.

When Serek so chose he could step back through this place and return to Shezmu. Now that he knew of this realm coming and going was a simple task.

Seeming to move forever in a standstill, there was no real grasp of direction or place within this realm of death. Yet it drained and ate away at Serek Eztli and his flesh. Leaving what would be an endless wander across the unending grey field into just a long and dull one.

Despite there being nothing that stood out across the Myopic Fields of Death, it still crossed his divine sensations and mind. As it was now, it was nothing more than the remnants of something long forgotten and incorporated with the birth of this world tree. Yet it was the moldings of something greater, something yet to be defined.

Deep within, the God of Blood himself knew that there should be more to this place. Yet he had not the power or tools to define it as wanted. For now, this just simply is the way. Yet there was power in knowing, things were still young within the world tree. If Serek was not to shape this realm, he was sure others would, especially those with a domain more tied to it. However, he had his own ideas manifesting. As well there was much more he could learn from this spiritual plane.

Satisfied with what he has garnered from the fields, Serek knew both the way in and out with ease. Saving a return trip for another day, the corvus god took a drink of his tincture from Ch'ich Āmēyal-li to rejuvenate his being. Finishing the bottled spring blood, Serek stepped through the realms back home to Shezmu.

+5 HP
This message was last edited by the player at 02:08, Fri 08 July 2022.

Leaving this gray void for the time being Serek withdrew himself from this realm and returned back to Shezmu.

Returning to Shezmu

"No, this is no Realm as we know it," Annastarria said soon after they stepped through. "This is a cold place, a remnant of what was before. Something like the Labyrinth - primordial."

She shivered as she looked at this featureless place. "Could a God ever have been born of such a place? Is it possible for there to be a God of Death and, if so, what would their Realm be like, I wonder."

The Prince emrged here at the same time Ana did, having come with Serek through his portal.

"This is a sinister and terrible place, although there seems to be a sort of order to the place none the less." the Prince said as he looked around.

"It's...almost the opposite of my Domain though. While I can cause things to wither and enervate, to be sick and cursed and impure, that is merely reversing my domain's flows and withdrawing it from something. But this place? It passively and purposefully withers all who enter. Even now, the fabric of the place is nipping at our heels." he said as his eyes glowed green for a moment.

Suddenly, Serek, Annastarria, and the Prince were all bathed in a pearlescent green light for a moment that felt soothing and warm, like a balm of aloe vera spread over a wound. The light pushed back at the entropy of the place a bit before fading.

The Prince winced.

"I...even with this, I cannot fully resist the entropy. It bypasses my divine aura and directly nips at my life force. But this will buy a bit more time." he said as the entropy began to push through his regeneration.

]

As Serek walked through the portal and emerged with his siblings, he gazed about the realm to take stalk of it. To see if something had changed or not since the ages he was last within the hazy soul filled fields.

"I would not be surprised if we had a sibling of Death. I hope however they would not be born of this place with their realm. As it is hollow and unfulfilled. A raw stone of marble. One to be chizzeled and shaped." Serek waved his talons through the air as they cradled around an ephemeral soul that he could not touch. A soft smile appeared on his beak.

"I find it sad, that for all of their hard work. All of their strife and efforts. That this is what awaits our children. What awaits all life of the world tree." Looking up to the Prince, Serek nodded at the notion it was the opposite to his domain. Serek felt that it was one in direct opposition to his own as well. Of course that went without saying.

Placing a hand on Prince's shoulder, Serek nodded again in thanks. "We will not be here for too long. One could wander this place almost endlessly I found with no concept of where they are or began."

"However, I wanted to show you something else here. How to use these raw energies of death to create something truly divine. A way to give these forsaken souls one final reward in eternity."

Serek then removed from his being a coagulating ball of blood as it then shaved off the withering rusty flakes. Unveiling the energies of a feiry realm. One he harvested during Jannik's demise. Alongside it though, Serek began to extend his blood from being to collect and pull at the energies and souls surrounding. Melding and shaping them as he carved out a place within the Myopic Fields of Death.

Using his collected knowledge of death, Serek unveiled to Annastarria and the Prince of Blossoms all he had came to understand so far as best one could. The God of Blood began to craft two new realms separate and isolated from all other places. New realms of the Afterlife melded by his divine hands.

-1 or 0 HP to Serek
This message was last edited by the player at 16:21, Sun 09 Oct 2022.