Astella

Astella was a Goddess of Illusions who came to life during the Apocalypse. Unlike other gods, she disliked going by titles and her relationship with mortals was more professional than divine, leading to her having paid employees rather than worshippers. She was interested mainly in providing comfortable lives to mortals through the use of her illusions and as such could often be found neck-deep in work related to that goal.

## Domains

### Illusions

Illusions are anything that is not real, but is realistic enough to the one witnessing them that they may not be aware of that fact. Illusions can affect any and all senses and strong enough illusions might even cause damage (both temporary and permanent) to specific senses. The illusions themselves may range from suddenly feeling cold while standing next to a furnace all the way to seeing long dead loved ones and perhaps even being shown indistinguishable versions of reality which only the most intuitive of minds might be able to break out of.

## Appearance

### Base Form

Astella is a short, lithe Goddess with olive-colored skin, red-pink eyes, and a large, glowing, silver Halo floating over her head at all times. She usually keeps her jet black hair swept back and dresses in dark or muted colours. When she’s not working, she will appear as a comfortably-dressed woman who isn’t particularly rich or poor; when she is working she appears in a uniform of some sort, which is decided for her by her assistants and friends in a weekly vote.

### True Form

Astella’s True Form is invisible, but it is extremely harmful. Were she to enter her true form, anything in a large radius around her would find their illusions and inhibitions broken in the blink of an eye. Anything that people had convinced themselves was true and real but really wasn’t would suddenly be revealed to them. Decade long relationships would end, people would be murdered, the young and idealistic would revolt against the old and weathered, crime would run rampant, and all manner of shallow morality would go out the window.

Even Astella herself is afraid of her True Form, as the effect is not only restricted to mortals but extends to herself as well.

## Myth

It is said that only those with the strongest intuition and self-awareness can wake up from a dream. However, there are extenuating circumstances in which a less gifted person might find themselves waking up. Some could wakeup after being subjected to traumatic events such as imminent death or extremely emotional moments… And others, like me, merely exerted their bodies beyond their limits.

I was a world-class athlete. One of the best people in at running the Stadion. I was gifted. I was a prodigy. Until they branded me a fraud, at least. During my last competition, I broke the historical record of 14 seconds. I broke it at the cost of injuring my leg and possibly ending my career…

And yet they still branded me a fraud by declaring that I had doused myself in Vanyan Waters prior to the race. They said I didn’t deserve the recognition, and so they tried to strip away my pride.

They couldn’t do it then, and they wouldn’t do it now.

With my old father praying for me all the way from home, with me representing my nation in the world’s largest sports venue, I was going to show them what I was made of, and who they were trying to mess with.

400 Cubits. It was previously thought to be impossible to clear in under 14 seconds, and I proved them wrong once before. I would do it again.

I could feel my heart beating in my chest. My muscles began to scream in anticipation. My hands were sweating puddles into the track… And then they went cold. A calmness washed over me and my breathing stilled. Even the dull pain in my leg was gone.

The scent of gunpowder reached my nose before it even fired, but I didn’t register it then.

The moment the vibrations of a pistol being fired reached my ears, I exploded into action. The world became a blur. My legs moved faster than the eye could see--But only for a moment.

In a split second, I felt something snap in my leg.

My eyes watered and I lost all the feeling in that leg, and yet I didn’t stop running. Not even when the other runners passed me by. I couldn’t fail. I just couldn’t.

So I squeezed my soul for every last drop of energy, every last drop of strength, and suddenly I was running at full speed once more.

The scent came back again. Gunpowder, as if I was sniffing the barrel of a freshly fired pistol.

I couldn’t feel my legs, but I was running fast. I overtook the other runners in no time. I was going to beat my previous record!

For a moment, it seemed as if the world had frozen still. I wasn’t making any progress and I couldn’t even move. I heard sounds coming from behind me, like clothing being shuffled.

The world was still frozen, even as I heard the sounds coming closer. I felt strange shadows lick at the edges of mine. I felt the tips of fingers stretching towards me.

I narrowed my eyes and pushed through the pain. At a certain point it felt as if the air had turned into stone, and even then I managed to slowly start inching forward. Faster and faster with every moment.

The shuffling behind me grew louder, closer. It grew more desperate.

The world in front of me stretched on and on, but the goal was closer with each passing moment. The world suddenly shifted colours. It became distorted.

As I gained my previous speed, I could feel the hands reaching for me receding back into the distance. But that was the least of my worries at that point. The world wasn’t the world anymore. I opened my eyes wide as I saw the horizon coming undone.

I smelled the gunpowder again. It was all I could smell. The world turned white, then black. The searing pain in my legs disappeared, and was replaced by what felt like flames inside of my skull.

Suddenly, light came back to the world. I could see and hear and feel.

But what I saw didn’t make any sense. An inhumanly big insect was staring at me with its hundreds of eyes, its maw clicking and its razor-sharp forelimbs rubbing together.

As I began to scream, the world disappeared again.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at the sterile white ceiling of a hospital. I was bedridden. I couldn’t understand anything. Not what I had seen, nor my experience in the race.

Eventually, after I’d lied to the doctors and nurses by telling them I didn’t remember anything, they explained that I had had an accident while in the race. Long story short, I would never be able to walk again and a particularly severe concussion would probably render me unable to smell anything.

There was good news, however. Apparently, I had managed to break my previous record. Now, the world record for the Stadion was 11 seconds, a full 3 seconds faster than the next fastest person in history…

But what importance did a world record have when you knew that it was all a dream?