For yesterday's Bookworm reading - thank you to those who came, by the way - I decided to play along with a pull from the rare treasure pile (a wave-crested deep indigo prayerbook) that was very kindly gifted to me and Retser's newly released OSA maps for Caligos Isle. I thought I would write it up as a short vignette for fun too!
Just touching the book brought on another wave of nausea. Its faint briny smell evoked memories of the occasional sea voyages she had been forced to take and they were not pleasant ones.
Rohese took a deep breath to try and settle her churning stomach before brushing away the traces of dried salt and sand that had encrusted the cover to reveal a wave-crested pattern in the deep indigo leather. Steeling herself, she opened it.
The parchment pages within felt faintly slimy to the touch and were filled with a slanted calligraphy in faded ink. She recoiled from the cover page that had been reserved for an hideous depiction of a chelioboros illuminated in gold and silver leaf, which was now flaking away like scales. The beginning of each chapter also appeared to be decorated with illustrations of eels captured in many aberrant forms.
The original text was barely legible and every attempt to decipher it merely added to her feelings of nausea and repulsion so she focused instead on the scribbled notes in the margins. The annotations hade been made at a later date, in various hands, but could also be identified as belonging to sympathisers of the original author.
The birth of the special ones takes place in a region of the Abandoned Waters off the south-eastern coast of Elanith called the Bay of the Anguillids, a place that is in every respect suitable for the creation of the revered silvered indigo eel.
The Bay of the Anguillids is actually less a clearly defined body of water but rather the continuance of the Indigo Trenches into the Caligean Sea.
Where it starts and where it ends is difficult to determine, since it eludes the usual measures of our world by His will.
It is located around the Caligos Isle, east of Ta'Nalfein and the ruins of Ta'Ashrim, but it is also a place in flux.
The Bay of the Anguillids is like a dream: you can rarely pinpoint the moment you enter or exit; all you know is that you’ve been there.
What gets in doesn't always have an easy time getting out!
The tumultuous waters are a deep glassy blue but the surface is blanketed in swirling indigo mists and silvery grey fog.
Drifts of seaweed carpet the surface in places, providing nourishment and shelter for myriad creatures. Farther down in the deep, other kinds of seaweed and plants thrive. Life teems in the dark, like a nocturnal forest.
This is where the Anguilla are born in their hundreds, safe in the darkness of the depths, moving as one being, dependent on the beneficence of Him.
Closing her silver-lashed eyes, Rohese slowly ran her fingertips from her nose to her right temple, brushing over her right eyelid. She massaged her temple in slow circles to try and alleviate the headache that had plagued her since the onset of the storms at the beginning of the month.
She turned another page to see the following words written on the page within a circular symbol. This time there was no difficulty making out what it said.
Eat of His flesh to symbolise your undying dedication and to carry His salvation with you always.
Dropping the book with an ominous THUNK, Rohese dashed into her bedchambers where she was violently ill. The combination of the prolonged headache and nausea had taken its toll on her lately but that litany was too much.
Weakened by the whole ordeal, Rohese crawled into bed and, pulling the covers over her, she wept until she fell into an exhausted sleep.
>>https://gswiki.play.net/Rohese (prime)
