The (EX)Angel Of Slumber

“I, of course as how deals usually go, Will need some degree of compensation”.

The pair of you both finish your tankards and place them down on the bar. Caelumei flushes very slightly with a tinge of red. It’s hard to spot thanks to her pitch black skin.

“I understand, I promise that I will find something of relatively equal value to the effort expended.”

You nod, knowing that asking for more for such a seemingly minor thing is pointless. In addition, those terms mean that the more work you do, the more you get in return.

“This is acceptable.”

Caelumei stands up slowly, coming to her full height and so do you. Her eyes and mouth stand at your height almost exactly, no she is ever so slightly taller. Though you are sure that is because of the spikes. She slowly raises her axe-tail and it’s flat blade to her shoulder and rests it. It lies on her chest.

“Then the time is now.”

She leads you to the nearest wall and opens a set of double doors. They almost take up the entirety of that wall. They appear to be made of a white stone, similar to pure quartz. It shines as emblazoned on the sacred looking face is the form of a tall and beautiful woman. She wears some kind of robe that is hard to make out and her hair reaches past her waist and would realistically drag along the ground. You see the image in the door move it’s eyes and stare at you, then smile and wave slowly.

The door fully opens and you find yourself standing beside Caelumei, her wings mostly retracted. She stands straight and puffs her chest ever so slightly. The silver chainmail she wears glistens as small beams of faint light refract from the polish.

The room you now stand in is like a gigantic bed.

The floor you stand on causes you to sink like quicksand. Until your feet touch ground, but by that time the soft mattress like floor is up to your mid shin. The material is a near luminescent black, like an abyss that sucks up the dim light. In fact, you can barely see anything past Caelumei. You have maybe 2 Meters of real vision. The rest seems dim and shaded, like it’s out of your realm of thought.

What you can make out is simple though. This room is Hexagonal with it’s walls each made of stunningly worked marble, each has an engraving for a different word for “sleep”, all synonyms in what must be all languages. The bottom half of the walls are lined with pillows, that’s almost 6 Feet of straight pillow and feather. This room is maybe 12 feet high at most, and is roughly 30 feet at it’s widest point.

The ceiling has tiny darts of light, streaming from crystals that seemingly grow out of the ceiling. The streaks of light seem to randomly break and restart down the straight beams of starry light. It’s like wading through stars when you move. A Few pillars rise from four evenly spaced points in the room, slightly closer to the center. Each has a pile of pillows around it. The center of the room is the darkest as shadows seem to extend their grip on reality from that point to the marble walls.

You are certain that the marble should be the purest white, your mind and eyes agree that it must be. Yet, they clearly are a dark grey.

The center of the room is piled with furs, sheets and pillows, each one seemingly more well designed for comfort than the last in descending order.  Lying comfortably in this pile is the face of a woman who nearly causes your heart to stop.

Her hair is black as night, and extends all throughout the room. It covers only one eye on her face, as it is parted with a golden chain-like band for decor. Her other eye glows a pure white, a glow so powerful that is pierces the strange shadows of this room. Yet it feels oddly gentle as small twinkles of what could only be call glowing dust fly out of it and rise into the contours of the crystals that line the roof of this strange place.

She seems tall and wears a simple white dress, with the skirt fully parted at the sides of her thighs. It is rimmed with gold and silver, it’s cloth appears so thin you can see each end every shape of her. She is clearly tall and imposing, Skin as pale as snow, like she has never seen the sun’s rise and beautiful enough to kill you where you stand.

She is laying on her belly and bust, her bare feet idly and slowly waving behind her in the air. Her calves have two layers of feathers stretching from below the knee to just before her heel. Her breasts seem to want to slide out of the sides of the dress she wears, as her nipples are poking at the fabrics. This may be simply because the fabric is so thin, but her breasts are clearly endowed to a comfortable degree.

Everything about her seems strange. But beautiful. It reminds you of Tirria, a thing that was made to look perfect. To attain an ideal that many cannot dream of.

3 sets of black wings sprout from her with feathers falling off every time they move. Ones that then seemingly disappear when you blink. The first set is on her upper back, the second on her lower back and the last set has one on each thigh, somewhere just below the rump.  Each wing itself is nearly as big as her, hell nearly as big as you.

Assuming this is Vauriel, she appears to be at maybe 6’0 Feet at most. You can feel a very subtle thrum reverberating around the room. You suddenly feel very tired, it’s enough to bring you to your knees. Yet even as you tire. You cannot bring your eyes away from this strange being in front of you. Analysing every detail and contour that your eyes can feast upon. It brings a single tear to your eye, yet you are unsure as to why.

It’s like background noise, a subtle and annoying static in the background.

“Vauriel, is he alright?”

The beautiful being speaks words that seem to hum to your soul. The words are like honey, soft sheets, fine wine and a lover’s touch.

“The poor child. It is not his fault, it is mine. My aura never fades and never wanes no matter what I do. Cover his eyes would you dearest Caelumei?”

A bony hand comes in front of your gaze, you try to push it away but find that it does not move.

Suddenly you regain yourself. What the hell was that? It’s a good thing Caelumei blocked your vision, or you may have become a terrible poet.

You try to rise but still find yourself tired.

Caelumei’s rumbling voice wafts in the air quietly. “Pretty boy, you alive? It’s like you saw the second coming of the Lady or something.”

“I-I’m not sure what happened there”.

The beautiful siren-like voice echos through the chamber, it is like a whisper yet also a song of the highest quality.

“The fault lies not with you, but with the pride of the gods.”

You hold your own hand to your eyes but look towards the source of the tender sound.

“What do you mean?”

The voice sounds saddened, nearly teary. “The humans have been conditioned through the years to lose themselves like that when they see an angel of the gods. Then my Aura of Awe amplified the effect, but not by my choice.”

“Conditioned?”

“Yes, they require worship to live. It was an old practice, to turn humans into cattle. The practice was put to and end by a few select gods, but the effect of it is passed down through the generations”.

“So I cannot look upon you?”

Somehow you can tell that she is smiling with her perfect near porcelain face. “Come to me, child of The Lady of Midnight. I will allow you to look upon me, should you desire. I will do you no harm, nor ill intent. We cannot have you weakened by the mere sight of an angel now can we?”

>What to do here?

>**If you want a more detailed idea into the general look of this character, the picture in the opening post is pretty accurate. I was quite happy to find it, as it fit the vision I had for this character nearly spot on. Sometimes, good things happen.**<