cullen dev1

[23:14:17] Cullen finally arrives at a clearing in the Southern forests of Valmasia. He sits down in the very grass, putting down his sword and shield right by his side. He's finally somewhere that he feels a bit better and finally suited for the spiritual journey that Atro suggested.

It'd be clear for him now whether or not his connections are true or false. If he was really feeling the world's aura, or if he was just being illuded by Chaos Magic overall. Even if the latter was probably untrue from his very first guesses, he had to try.

And this is what he did. For the first time, he was trying to find out what was the objective best way to proceed. If he should really leave Valmasia behind, or if he should go back there.

Too many questions. He had to had them all answered within the year, or else... He might return to nowhere. Or, even worse, to no one. He knew of their plans to kill the Oscuri. He had to, even if risky for him, try to save Juliette. Evenif it meant putting her back on a boat by force.

He was there to protect those he vowed to. And by Kraus's name, he was going to do that whatever the cost might be.

So, slowly, the paladin sat down on the ground and started meditating. He had to feel the ground beneath his feet, sending small ripples through the ground as the Exorcist mana within him started to boil and erupt from his veins. It quickly surrounded him, turning the paladin into a beacon of yellowish light in the middle of the clearing.

Moonlight differed greatly from his light, and then, his mind focused. He was no longer there. Instead, it went deep down on the ground, focusing on his feelings from the ripples that he sent down the Earth a while ago. What returned was... A bit unsettling.

He felt a hideous presence hidden within, and it brought shivers to his spine. The stone turned marble in the way was quickly corrupted when it reached the heinous tunnels dug down beneath the ground,and the sensation itself was returned to Cullen.

After all, the attunement to Holy energy was something quite unique even if it was with him throughout his whole life, although in slighter degrees back in his teenager days. It meant that corruption stinks; even if only to him. He's not usually too bothered by it, but mostly it's quite akin to smelling shit after a lifetime living in a sewer. Avalon was that, and even if his sense of corruption only got sharper, he was still used to it.

But this? This was different. This was demonic corruption. This was the same kind of thing that Tragedy exhaled with such force that it hurt his very skin to just stand near her. This was the same sensation he felt against Oyaotl. It was an unnerving, tightening, crippling sensation of pure dread.

And he was trying to fight it. With every fiber of his being, Cullen fought against it as it tried to force him to back off. As it tried to force him to back off, he'd stand there and fight against it. He'd wait until it was gone, resisting every attempt that the energy itself made to sully his own energy and body.

And like that, Cullen endured for hours. He was attacked in every way he thought he would be, and his attunement to the Holy Light was what saved him, or so he thought. After all, he was called a Krausite for doing that before.

But his defense wasn't endless. As much as the negative feelings overwhelmed his, he countered every one of them with his own positive feeling, even if his aura did it by just embodying it for him. Every sentiment of hatred was countered by one of compassion. Every sentiment of fear was countered by courage. Every sentiment of rage was countered by his inner peace. However, one passed through him.

All of those combined into one pure feeling of dread. This was the feeling that finally surrendered him. And it was then, that Culen pulled the plug and unlinked himself to Agartha.

What was once a black-and-grey full clad in armor paladin was now sweating, panting and hoping that whatever came to him wasn't going to come after him later on. It was a horrible, horrible sensation that he hoped to never feel again.

But he knew he had to. Gathering his weapons, Cullen proceeded to hunt through the woods.
(Cullen Edderlin)