Gate of Memoirs/To The Sun

Neferet, slayer of the corrupt God-King, finds her journey guided by Harakhte, her falcon spirit.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Mirage"	Music: "Mirage"
 	
*Each cycle of day and night in the desert brought new challenges both physical and mental.
*Guided by sheer force of will, prayer, and a touch of divine guidance, Neferet found her faith tested to its limits.
 	
*Though the journey was arduous, the priestess never faltered, and the presence of her falcon spirit brought solace to her weary mind.
*Neferet: It all seems so long ago now, that our destinies intertwined in a single instance.
*Neferet: Can it be the will of the gods? Or merely the unfeeling twist of fate?
*Neferet: Oh, Rahotep. I can only pray for yours and everyone's safety.
 	
**flutter*
*Neferet's falcon spirit alights deftly upon her staff, its sharp azure eyes glowing in the midday sun.
 	
*Neferet: Harakhte, what do you see?
 	
*Harakhte: An altar carved upon the rock.
*Harakhte: There, toward the Sun.
 	
*Neferet: How much further?
 	
*Harakhte: Not far, priestess. Not far.
*Harakhte: Have faith.
*With a puff of smoke, Harakhte disappears, leaving only a single, translucent feather that vanished with the hot air.
 	
*Neferet: ...I shall.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Tree of Gaia"	Music: "Tree of Gaia"
 	
*Mere days after awakening to their new powers, Rahotep and Neferet became aware of the secret to the God-King's supposed divinity.
*Though they had culled the corrupt bureaucracy in an attempt to restore the stolen life-force, the deficit remained unchanging.
 	
*Rahotep: Mmm...The God-King certainly wasn't exaggerating that part of his "divine heritage."
 	
*Neferet: It would explain the visions we had in the aftermath of his death, and the...powers we gained afterward.
*Neferet: You remember them, right?
 	
*Rahotep: Yes. A glimpse of the shattered netherworld...It is true no mere mortal could have done that.
 	
*Neferet: I felt the souls of the dead sever from their flesh, but they seemed...lost, somehow.
*Neferet: Bereft of their mortal body and the afterlife both...It is no wonder they find no solace whatsoever.
 	
*Neferet: (... ...)
*Neferet: At any rate, this cannot continue. It would be prudent to commune with the spirits on a course of action.
 	
*Rahotep eyes the ghostly falcon hovering around Neferet's shoulder, and nods.
*Rahotep: I shall see to it that no one disturbs you, then.
 	
*As soon as the door closes, Harakhte materializes fully, and perches on the small altar in the prayer room.
*Though the God-King had outlawed worship of all other "heretical" deities but he,
*Neferet kept her own altar dutifully, rejecting the cult of personality that passed for "priesthood" within his court.
*It was only until she had torn the God-King's divinity to shreds and claimed part of it for herself that Harakhte first spoke.
*Harakhte: You seek answers.
 	
*Neferet: Don't we all?
 	
*Harakhte: An answer from you first, priestess.
 	
*Neferet: I am listening.
 	
*Harakhte: Do you think the gods have abandoned you?
 	
*Neferet: ...I...
 	
*Harakhte: Your voice trembles.
 	
*Neferet: Perhaps it is better to say I do not believe so.
 	
*Neferet: You are a messenger of a sort...no?
*Neferet: Then they must be listening. And if they, in turn, love their creations...then they will not abandon us.
 	
*Harakhte: ... ...
*Harakhte: Then thy path is clear before thee.
*Harakhte: Seek the ancient seat of that faith out. In the desert, where the Sun rises...
 	
*Neferet: ... ...
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Snow Poem"	Music: "Snow Poem"
 	
*Neferet: That must be it.
 	
*The sands had given way to ancient rock, and at its edge sat a crumbling old altar.
*Upon its steps, a hooded figure sat hunched over, deep in meditation.
 	
*Neferet: (Someone's already here...)
*Neferet: Pardon me—
 	
*Mysterious Woman: Hold. Not all who come may approach.
*Mysterious Woman: Whenceforth hast thou come?
 	
*Neferet: I hail from a nameless capital far to the west of here, which was once ruled by an unjust and darkly corrupt man.
*Neferet: Are you the caretaker of this shrine?
 	
*Mysterious Woman: Yea, I have heard of such a tale.
*Mysterious Woman: Speaketh thou of that who calls himself the God-King?
 	
*Neferet: Yes. Great and terrible was his reign, and when my eyes opened to the truth, I beseeched the gods for help.
 	
*Neferet: My prayers have led me here. O watcher of this shrine, pray tell if this is what I seek.
*Neferet: For the undead threat grows ever larger in the wake of the God-King's crimes, and I fear we will soon be lost to darkness.
 	
*Mysterious Woman: So thou saith.
Music: "Overcome" 	Music: "Overcome"
 	
*The hooded woman rises, and in a flash, the atmosphere grows heavy—as if the air was flooded by invisible water.
*Mysterious Woman: If thou art truly a practitioner of the holy Word, and an adherent of the gods, then prove thyself to me.
*Mysterious Woman: I will not so easily take the word of a stranger for truth.
*The thrum of magic swells into a roar as the woman approaches, hands raised to channel a spell.
 	
*Neferet: (The magic here...is like a raging torrent!)
*Neferet: (This must be a test!)
*Neferet: ...Very well. I accept your challenge!