Beluaterra/A Glittering Blessing

Roleplay from A Glittering Blessing

*Firbalt, one week ago, six days after the mysterious lights in the sky* "Agh, Jax, there 'e is again," the aging guard muttered to her compatriot. Approaching across the wastes of Aku was a figure bundled in so many layers of ragged cloth that it was hard to tell just *what* he was underneath—the same figure that they'd driven off twice over the last five days. Jax sighed and lifted the latch on the guardpost door to go shoo the vagrant away again. As before, the disheveled fellow was chanting—almost singing—as he came, the words hard to make out, but something about divine blessing, and bright shining something-or-other. "Arright, granther," Jax called out as the man came close enough. "Time t' turn around agin. None here wan' yer stories o' desert gods an' shiny blessings." He took a few steps out to try gently turning him around by the elbow—that was what he'd done before, and the man had simply accepted it, and walked his way right back out to the wastes. This time, though, the man stopped and looked him right in the eyes. There was something unsettling about the man's gaze...his eyes seemed...too bright, somehow. Almost sparkly. "Nar, gun," the man replied. "Bessin nar jes the deser. Bessin here! Bessin me! Wun looked on th' fire-sky, th' fire cam doon, an' I war changed! I become! Sun no me no mar, jes bessin!" Then he threw back his head and laughed, then turned and walked back out toward Aku again. Shaken, Jax returned to the guardpost. "Somethin's off about that'un, Grace," he muttered to his fellow guard as he latched the door firmly. "Aye," Grace said softly, continuing to gaze after the retreating form. "Didja see when he laughed, how his teeth sparkled? Somethin' unnat'ral there..." \* \* \* \*Firbalt, four days ago* Jax and Grace were on shift again together, and since the last encounter, they'd gotten permission to have a priest with them in case the vagrant returned. Today it was a priest of the Old Gods, Grace's own nephew—they'd been alternating between him and a burly warrior-priestess of Daishi, which Jax followed. The strange man had not yet reappeared since the encounter three days previous. They were starting to think maybe he was gone for good when the priest pointed out the window. There, standing a few hundred yards away with arms outstretched, was a figure in layers and layers of rags. This time, he didn't approach, just...stood there. Cautiously, Grace and her nephew opened the door and started toward him (Grace and Jax having drawn lots to see who would go next time and who would stay, and Grace having lost). The priest called out, "Wanderer, what do you seek?" but there was no response. Twice more as they approached, he called to the vagrant, but still he was silent. At last they reached the figure, entirely shrouded in layers of filthy, ragged cloth, and Grace hesitantly reached out to push the cowl back off the man's face. At her touch, the figure collapsed to the ground. The rags dissolved into dust, and spilling forth from them were hundreds of precious gemstones. \* \* \* Since then, word of the strange happenings spread, and people began to flock to the wastes southwest of Firbalt seeking more gemstones. Within days, the entire continent was abuzz with the news: the desert and the wastelands around it abounded with gems of all sizes. A few sat clearly visible on the ground, but those who sought old mines—or opened new ones—found that beneath the surface were many, many more. What once had been poor lands were now overflowing with riches.

A Glittering Blessing