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unicorn-incorporated · 5 years

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Only Gods Know How Unicorns Choose Their Knights (1/?)

((I’ve been reading the ‘How Best to Use A Sword” story, and I got inspired, so I wrote about a unicorn and a witch and invented a bunch of gods. Like I do. Shoutout to @underhandedpenguin for her great ‘verse.

Ariadne had been fourteen when she first saw the unicorn. It was a glorious beast, shining white among the green foliage of Yuu forest. She'd still lived with her mother, then--Training the littlest girl how to feel the earth and measure her herbs right and making tree roots grow into little figurines instead of helping with the household chores. It just was a flash, but Ariadne would bet her life on the fact that she had seen a unicorn on that day.

She told her mother about it later that day, who smiled cryptically and told her a story of Idra, the forest's rumored unicorn protector. Ari didn't find it to helpful; Idra had a tawny coat, not one of pure white.

"Unicorns are the only truly good creature, you know." Her mother had smiled and placed her dish to the side. "It was said that when you die they're the ones that judge your virtue."

"According to what faith?”

"The Cult of Jino, mostly." Her mother looked slightly embarrassed. "But followers of the Earth Mother and Jianti also had unicorns as creatures of judgement. The only impartial creatures in the world."

Ari nodded, steadying her features. "The Earth mother had many different faces depending on your region. The followers of Pulga once caused the turning of an entire town to stone, and another sect that worshiped Hyra overwhelmed a city with vines and trees. All harm caused by overexcitement, rather than malice.”

"And Jianati?"

"A moon goddess used as a symbol of prosperity in a dead kingdom in the east. Was said to gorge herself on mortal pleasures during day so she could glow during night. Followers disappeared when Yuell did a year before the old faiths died out"

"And what is Yuell connected to?"

"Jino." Ari blinked a few times. "Unicorns go back to Jino, don't they? Either to their forest or to Jino."

"Remind me to tell you the tale of Jino and the Lilac. But that's enough lore for the day." Her mother ruffled her hair affectionately before turning back to the dishes.

"Ma." Ari called finally. "Do we believe in Jino, here?"

"He wasn't a god." Her ma assured. "He was worse."

~ * ~

Ariadne was sixteen when she saw the Unicorn again while burning sage to purify her flute. She'd been teaching the roots of her flower pots to depict Jino and the Great Web again and it always left the energy of her pipe feeling off. She’d been trying a few months, but the roots refused to show Jino in any form but playing his flute with eyes closed. His character was far too nuanced to only have one acceptable form.

Ari didn't believe in most of the gods she worshipped: didn't believe that eating well on new moons was necessary to make the moon come back at all and didn’t believe that the earth she pulled her power from was one big woman, no more than she thought a woman that powerful would be letting the sky fuck her over like in the Hyra and Kei the sky god. Ariadne preferred Tyrll, the tiger goddess, but her mother hadn't been enthusiastic the first time she dressed up in skins and went hunting in the night like an animal, so she'd toned down that faith to just sacrificing part of anything that she had to kill.

Little Natalie claimed she wasn't little anymore, but as Ariadne was ten years older than her she knew better. Still, it meant that any worship of Ne'Okna, the goddess of female pleasure, was not permissible in any place a little girl might let herself end up in, and that was everywhere.

She'd brought the half completed artwork with her, hoping she'd be able to finish it if she could banish the discordant energy that interrupted her. She'd already gotten the image of the Great Spider just right (a creature that Ma had assured her was a real God, of the old and minor sort that was boring except for the mortal that managed to slay it).

The unicorn came while she began Jino's form again, passing into the meadow to look at the distracted Ariadne like she was as fascinating as the unicorn would be to be Ari. It struck a pose: horn out to stab the spider, hoof up to kick it's torso in. Proud, radiant, and deadly.

The Unicorn held the pose even when Ari looked over, but whinnied and dropped it’s pose when she dropped her flute in surprise. In a flash the unicorn was gone again, leaving just a shadow of unusual magic behind.

When she told her mother about the fascinating scene she laughed but told her not to spread such silly fantasies in front of Natalie. "You're near an adult, now. You go telling the Great Coven that you think you've sighted undocumented unicorns and you'll get us into all sorts of trouble."

"Yes, mama." Ari huffed. “But I swear to Tyrll I saw it.”

~ * ~

Ari did not have to wait two more years to see the unicorn again. When it came out of the trees this time she was already depicting it, teaching the silvery grasses by the Yuu river how to weave themselves into shapes. The grass unicorn stood ready to attack, solid yet delicate enough that near anything could tear it to bits. She noticed the unicorn as soon as it came this time but made no motion to greet it; just informed the grasses that the hair should be even lighter than the rest of the body and that the horn was a spiral.

The unicorn seemed as pleased as a horse’s expression could manage, this time posing itself itself look like a creature of many mysteries rather than a creature of bloodshed—Or at least that’s how Ari’s muse read it.

She started on another grass sculpture and tried to recreate the feeling with intricate patterns and abstraction. The unicorn watched until it realized that she was not making an equine figure and then left. Ariadne watched it go, wrinkling her brow. What is your obsession with your appearance? She wondered. Conceit isn't exactly the height of morality.

She did not bother telling her mother of the unicorn this time, but did ask to hear a story about Idra.

“All places, especially forests such as this, have myths of times long past. It is our family's job to collect these ancient stories and pass them through generations so they do not disappear." Her mother began every tale like this, a reminder of the responsibility of the Liberakis lineage as educators and scholars along with that of the usual witch. "But no lore of our forest is as sacred as Idra, the Unicorn of Ether. Every forest has it's own unicorn, and that forest that loses its unicorn is the next to fall to darkness. Most Unicorns are aloof and never seen but in times of great trauma, such as fires and deforestations. Idra is one of the few exceptions.

"I have already taught you of how Idra came to this forest, rising out of the Yuu when the forest first realized it was alive. But Idra has many other tales, the most important of which is her role in the Siege of the Quieri Library. Witches did not always pass information exactly as we do now: long ago there was a gigantic library nestled in the branches of the biggest tree in the forest, home to a collection of records more complete than the libraries of the modern mage academy." Her mother took a bundle of dried rosemary and began to dice it as she spoke. "Inside was every spell a witch had recorded and every rite of every god, written in books without human intervention. It was the ultimate place of knowledge, and all the witches of the world enjoyed it in harmony.

"Then came the Dolovai invasion." She placed the rosemary in a metal bowl with a single twig of oak and lit it, the makeshift incense slowly filling the room. This tradition was not inherently magical, but it had long been proven to Ari that she remembered things better while the smoke still hung in the air. "And their worship of angels. A priest of the dominant faith,” (Her mother never used the real name for the religion most followed as if it were a slur.) “heard of the library from a nonmagical performance of the ancient song The Ballad of Inquiry, one of the three great songs of Jino. He learned of harmony between many gods still active in territory he thought he'd contained and ordered for the library be destroyed

"After years of searching he finally found this forest and the Quieri library was laid siege to for ten days and nights. It is to this day the largest gathering of witches for one common goal: to protect our Great Library. However, the priest's crusade did not come without magic users of it's own and soon people became disillusioned with protecting a resource that they may use once, and the unity started to break. Eventually the remaining witches could not control the fires, and most ran away.

"However, representatives of five lines stayed: the Zenn, Poko, Hollow, Glittergold, and Liberakis families. Then came Idra, running through the forest like a god reborn. Idra did not stop the fire or save the library, but reached out with her magic and gave part of the knowledge to each family to be passed down through generations. The Liberakis were given the task of preserving the old of faiths as they become swallowed by the Single God, so if He ever was to disappear the land need not be faithless."

Ari nodded, breathing in the rosemary. "Ma, I have a question."

"Always, dear."

"What are the three great songs of Jino?"

"Always so curious about him." Her mother laughed. "The Ballad of Inquiry, a song to answer any question if performed correctly, The All Aria, a spell that can create anything if sung as a duet, and the Hymn of Yew, a forbidden song of necromancy that uses witchcraft to bring a person back to life."

"Isn't all necromancy forbidden?"

"Well, yes." Her mother conceded. "But this song is worse. It does not animate dead into a zombie, and it does not kill, but it interferes with local time and causes a dead person to return to a truly living state. Even Jino couldn't cast it correctly, and all knowledge we’ve managed to retain says there was a terrible consequnce.”

“Unknown, huh?” Ari thought about that for a bit. “Is that why Yuell disappeared? The Hymn of Yew went wrong?"

"That's one theory. But an unpopular one, even among those who believe Yuell was ever real."

"Do we believe that?"

"Without a shred of doubt. But it can no longer be found on mortal feet, and none that have attempted to teleport have returned. Portals just collapse." The last of the incense burned out, which meant it was time to end the sharing of lore. "Well then. Let's prepare food, shall we?"

~ * ~

The next time Ari saw the unicorn she created a near perfect replica from tree roots and and asked if it's name was Idra. It shook it's horse head and looked out to the forest as if to say ‘No, but she's around.’

The forest had two unicorns, and that was said to be impossible.

~ * ~

The fifth time she saw the unicorn she chose to make a statue out of clay because that took a lot longer than making one from plants and she wanted the unicorn to stay. It left almost immediately but soon returned pulling a giant block of the most beautiful white clay Ari had ever seen on a plank of wood. It shimmered in the sunlight and practically sang of magical energy.

It pained her to waste it on yet another depiction of the unicorn, but she got to spend five hours with the beast. When the statue was complete the unicorn instantly fired it into a beautiful stone statue. Ari tried to approach the unicorn, but it ran away.

~ * ~

"Ma, can people ride unicorns?" Ari asked one night after tucking Natalie into bed.

"It is said there is a secret caste of knights that ride unicorns.” Her mother winked at her. "But Idra isn't looking for one, so you'll have to settle for a horse."'

Ariadne got rather good at horse riding after that and had never enjoyed herself more. She continued to make statues for the vain unicorn, sometimes using Otto as a model when the unicorn was absent.

She went to get her horse on an autumn afternoon and found it had numerous puncture wounds in the chest and the magic of a unicorn hung heavy in the air. She did tell her mother about this, who assumed the stallion had been possessed and was glad it was gone and made a sacrifice to Idra at their shrine. That night she told the story of when the entire Yuu dried up that night because a water demon drank it all and Idra made great flows of water from her horn to restore it.

Next time Ari sculpted the unicorn she placed a saddle blanket on it. The blanket quickly caught on fire, and Ariadne supposed that was answer enough.

~ * ~

The next time she saw the unicorn it was holding a full saddle of beautiful silver, and after the statue of birch was complete the unicorn fitted it itself. When Ari approached to touch the beast, it bolted.

~ * ~

The first time the unicorn let Ari touch it was a year later, with just a single hand on it's head. In exchange she enchanted her next statue to glow silver, which pleased the unicorn to no end.

"What's your name?" Ari asked finally, not expecting an answer.

Sage. The 'voice' came out of nowhere, and Ari jumped back. When she looked up, Sage was gone.

"There are two unicorns in the forest." She told her mom eventually in the most serious tone she could manage Her mom dropped her fork and looked Ari in the eyes.

"Ari, please."

"There are. The second one is named Sage. I've been meeting with it for years." Ari insisted. "I've made numerous statues."

Her mom paused. "You're old enough not to tell me fictions. There are two unicorns in this forest." Her brow furrowed. "That's not a good thing."

"I know." Ari whispered. "I'm going to ride it out of here, for my knowledge quest. I'll leave as soon as it lets me mount it."

"You are around that age. What will you study?”

“Unicorns.” Ari looked her mother in the eyes, then. “And the lost lands of Yuell.”

#how best to use a sword #fanfiction #unicorns #unicorn knight #epic fantasy #witchcraft #i think this is pretty okay #Jino is fun #Sage is a concieted brat #This will have more but idk #<3

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