Exalted: Dreams of Exaltation - Prelude: Silver Mirror

[Krul]

Ophelia was one of the most gorgeous woman in creation, though her beauty remained within human limits. Or at least, it had be within human limits, but the young woman was no longer bound by the same limits she had been. She had been chosen by the goddess Luna, pushed to her limits and survived what few would have cared to experienced. Luna had touched her, had called to her, and spoke to her, she had Exalted, reaching out to destroy those who had enslaved and tormented her for so long.

The Silver Pact had caught up with her within a matter of days, but then, they had been watching the omens in the stars, and knew that another of their own would be chosen soon. They had watched her, put her though the tests, and had tattooed her, fixing her caste as Changing Moon.

The Lunar elders in the area being who they were, taught her the basics of the silver pact, and then left her to her own devices, leaving her to make whatever mark in the world she might chose too.

[Marissa Jauntsen]

Within the back of a polished shield Ophelia looked at herself. Her new self. Glittering silver marking shimmered and glistened against her skin like quicksilver war paint. Spiraling lines trailed down her thighs as banded markings looped around her arms and caressed her body. Beneath her skin she could feel the slight pull of the Wyld energies still trying to mutate and warp her features before the enchantment of the moonsilver tattoos was permanent.

She lifted her obsidian hair off her back and stood admiring the work across her spine, and down her back and rear. She was gorgeous before her exaltation, and now, with divine power coursing through her, she seemed even more so. Every muscle was toned and taught through out her body. Her skin seemed smoother and free of blemishes, but most note worthy (at least to her) was how her butt seemed more defined and her breasts were certainly a bit more firm. All of it without effort or exercise.

"A girl could learn to like this..." she quipped with a grin while spinning slowly about to view her new body from all angles.

The flap of the hut she was in was pushed aside without warning and large man stepped in, having to bend nearly half his height to clear the entryway. He was draped in a mantle of hides from some the largest beasts in creation, their preserved heads decorated his shoulders. He cleared his throat but seemed unphased by the raven haired woman's nakedness. "Ophelia?" He said in a deep, gravely voice.

She spun about on her heels and faced the large man, once again taking in his powerful build and perfectly honed barbarian's frame. She owed the man a lot although she had only met him briefly several moths ago. Her hair fell down back as her let her arms down, her trance of self-love broken by his arrival. "You're Strength-Of-Many, right?" She asked, uncertain and standing there shamelessly naked.

The huge man just nodded once.

"I guess I owe you my life, then." Her eye brow quirked up a bit and she folded her arms under her chest, hefting her breasts up to display very impressive cleavage. "Thanks, and I'm thankful you guys didn't tattoo 'Enter Here' across my ass cheeks..."

"Not enough moonsilver." He said flatly.

She glared at him, her serpentine eyes sending daggers into him as moonsilver lines danced across her chest.

"I'm sorry," Strength-Of-Many apologized, trying to hide a smirk. "That was in poor taste."

Ophelia suddenly burst into laughter for a moment, adding a strange air to the rather tense moment. "No, no..." She giggled a bit. "I'm just a bit shocked. You don't seem the sense of humor type."

"I'm not." He held out his hand and in it was folded clothes. "We have much work to do. You handled the Guild for me, and for that you have my thanks, so I guess we're even. I'd been trying to beat Pasha Adu's elite security for months so I could get to him and cripple their operation in the South for quite some time. Your method was not... my usual strategy."

"Well, it's like I always say, Strength-Of-Many: If you can't beat it," she said casually as she slipped into a slit skirt and tight halter of oil slick anaconda skin. She shrugged, dismissively. "Fuck it."

"Well, in any case, you were successful, so now we move on to the things the Elders did not tell you..." He tossed the flap of the hut aside and Ophelia felt the heat of the southern jungle sun on her perfect skin. "Come, I will teach of you the Heart's Blood tel you of the Solars and war we fight. We have much to discuss you and I, Steward."

She stepped out into the camp, wiggling her breasts in a vain attempt to get them to fit perfectly into the hide halter top. Finally she seemed content but her cleavage still threatened to split the seams of the garment. "Think you guys could have made it a bit bigger for me?"

"I don't think the Elders had you in mind when they made it." Strength-Of-Many smirked as Ophelia realized that every man in line of sight was checking her out.

She smikred and rolled her eyes, smacking Strength-Of-Many on his hardened chest with the back of her hand as she passed him. "Very funny, come on, show this Heart's Blood stuff..."

[Krul]

Strength of Many took her to the edge of the nearby forest. "A No Moon should teach you this, they are the priests after all, but Sendashi only had time to tatoo you before she had to get back to a rather urgent matter, the task falls to me." He paused a moment before continuing, his tone full of respect as he spoke of the Goddess Luna.

"Heart's Blood, it's the Sacred Hunt, both a blessing of Luna to her Chosen, and a act of worship to the Goddess as the Huntress. You already know you can take the form of your spirit shape, and your war form, those come natural to you, and always will. The Sacred Hunt is how you add to your repertoire, to become other creatures.. you know this, you should feel it, it's bound to the very exaltation you carry, that all living creatures can be hunted, and with the taste of their heart's blood, you can become them."

Strength of Many turned to regard the lovely woman, she was quite easy on the eyes of course. "Generally, there are limits to what you can hunt, but your knacks can change them, even break beyond the limits as you grow in power and knowledge." He pointed to the forest. "Pick out a creature, spend the next six hours hunting it, then make it your own, become it, and you will truly understand my words."

[Marissa Jauntsen]

She entered the wilderness and that was the last time she saw Strength-Of-Many. She didn't have the patience to deal with 'a priest should do this, not me' attitudes when she woke up knowing nothing of her abilities or why Luna even chose her to begin with. She was a city a girl, did it not even dawn on him that she didn't even know how to hunt to begin with! Since he left her to wander on her own, she did just that, and taught herself what she needed to know. Not long after animals she moved on to something she enjoyed hunting more, a lot more: people.

Since the "hunt it for six hours, let me know how it goes" line of teaching her fellow Lunars seemed to have didn't exactly jive with her she decided she'd just have to learn all this on her own, after all thy treated her like she should have it all figured out and her Shard came with instructions and and a 'How To' manual.

After a few months of stalking the jungles and plains of An-Teng Ophelia was competent enough, she thought, to stalk all but the swiftest or fiercest prey but she longed for the one thing she loved the most: socializing. The City of the Steel Lotus had always been one of her favorite places to visit, and now that she could be about anyone, it made moving through the districts even easier.

Her hunts took days, sometimes even weeks as she only stalked the most physically attractive people she could find but soon she was content with her catalog of possible disguises.

[Krul]

Strength of Many followed her for her first hunt, watching her and once she proved successful, he turned into a hawk, and flew away, after all, he had goals and purposes of his own, in his battle with the guild. He departed not even aware of how upset he had left the young lunar with his words, after all, she was a lunar, she would survive.

Of course, some creatures were easier to hunt then others, after all, but as a large anaconda, she could manage to sneak up upon and grab a few animals that she hunted. Though she was somewhat impatient with his words, she discovered that Strength of Many was correct, instinctively she knew how to carry out the Sacred Hunt dedicating it to Luna. She did discover, however, that it didn't have to take six hours, if she was particularly good in a hunt, the time was a bit less.

Her first hunt didn't quite turn out all that easy, much to her frustration her target got away, but her second hunt, she chose a heron, and narrowed the hunt down to about three hours rather then six. Which was good, and upon tasting it's heart's blood, she found she could become the heron, giving her another form to work with.

Resting, she hunted a few other animals, before she decided to extend the hunt to humans, tasting their life's blood as they died, and make that form her own.

However, during her hunts, she found something new, in the forest, a manse in a valley, which actually was a rather nice place, and apparently no one knew it was there.