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Description

16. Sikrinerk escorts any lost spirits of the departed to Aippaq, and has called upon your tokota to help. Depict your Tokota with Sikrinerk, guiding a spirit up to the Ridge of Elders to peacefully pass on.

Bonuses:
Optional: +10 for correct setting - Ridge of Elders
Optional: +10 for somehow including your Tokota's RoD companion in full body - Deer spirit
Optional: +10 for a short story of at least 500 words. For literature entries, this bonus will be awarded for at least 500 extra words.

The night was clear and chilly when Okazaki’s dreams were interrupted by the deity.

It was too difficult to determine whether Sikrinerk first invaded the dream Okazaki had been having, or whether the toki-like goddess had woken her up. Either way, the first thing Okazaki could remember was a blindingly brilliant light, followed by a soft, sweet voice, calling to her.

“Okazaki? Okazaki! Please wake up.”

It took a rather embarrassingly long time for Okazaki to convince herself that she was awake now, and that she wasn’t just imagining Sikrinerk standing before her, glowing brighter than the moon with her fur waving in slow-motion about her, as though she were suspended underwater. To be fair, it wasn’t everyday that you were visited by a deity.

At first Okazaki panicked slightly. Was something wrong? Was someone she knew dying? Was she dying?

But Sikrinerk reassured her that there was nothing to worry about. She just required Okazaki’s assistance with a task. And a rather unusual task that was.

“There’s a lot of lost souls who are struggling to find their way to Aippaq tonight,” Sikrinerk explained, “And I’ve been looking for a tokota who can help me.”

“But why me?” Okazaki had questioned, “I’ve never done anything like that before.”

“You have, in a way,” Sikrinerk had pointed out playfully. “Mediating between tamers and wild tokotas and herding spirits really isn’t all that different, you know~”

Okazaki wasn’t so sure about that, but she didn’t argue with the fluffy goddess. Instead, she curiously agreed, and set out with Sikrinerk to find the lost souls of the recently departed.

It was much harder work than she ever could have anticipated. Once she got over the initial shock of locating and seeing ghostly spirits – abilities temporarily granted by Sikrinerk’s power – she worked diligently to find and guide as many as she could manage up to the Ridge of Elders. The trek up the hill was tiring, but it was nothing compared to the emotional toil of dealing with the ghosts of the dead.

Many weren’t immediately convinced that they were dead and struggled or argued against Okazaki’s gentle persuasion. Oftentimes, prey animals kept their instinct to flee from the albino predator, meaning that she was forced to chase after them on more than one occasion. Okazaki’s mediating skills were really put to the test as she rounded up the departed souls, from as small as rabbits to as large as dire tokotas, guiding them up to the Ridge where Sikrinerk assisted them in ascending up into Aippaq’s waves of rainbow lights in the night sky.

At last, Sikrinerk announced the last spirit that needed help in making it up the Ridge. A lone deer, whose time had come following a bullet wound to the shoulder, was wandering lost and alone in the plane of the living. It didn’t take long before Okazaki located the deer’s spirit. She was terribly frightened and awfully confused, and it took some reassurance from Okazaki before she was calm enough to make the journey. But her glowing apparition looked young, strong and healthy; there wasn’t a single mark on her, as was the case with all the other spirits. No matter how gruesome their death, the souls were always wholesome, and untouched.

Okazaki reflected wondrously on this fact as she began to lead the doe’s spirit up the Ridge of Elders, with a simple, soft instruction,

“Follow me.”

WC: 570

Description

16. Sikrinerk escorts any lost spirits of the departed to Aippaq, and has called upon your tokota to help. Depict your Tokota with Sikrinerk, guiding a spirit up to the Ridge of Elders to peacefully pass on.

Bonuses:
Optional: +10 for correct setting - Ridge of Elders
Optional: +10 for somehow including your Tokota's RoD companion in full body - Deer spirit
Optional: +10 for a short story of at least 500 words. For literature entries, this bonus will be awarded for at least 500 extra words.

The night was clear and chilly when Okazaki’s dreams were interrupted by the deity.

It was too difficult to determine whether Sikrinerk first invaded the dream Okazaki had been having, or whether the toki-like goddess had woken her up. Either way, the first thing Okazaki could remember was a blindingly brilliant light, followed by a soft, sweet voice, calling to her.

“Okazaki? Okazaki! Please wake up.”

It took a rather embarrassingly long time for Okazaki to convince herself that she was awake now, and that she wasn’t just imagining Sikrinerk standing before her, glowing brighter than the moon with her fur waving in slow-motion about her, as though she were suspended underwater. To be fair, it wasn’t everyday that you were visited by a deity.

At first Okazaki panicked slightly. Was something wrong? Was someone she knew dying? Was she dying?

But Sikrinerk reassured her that there was nothing to worry about. She just required Okazaki’s assistance with a task. And a rather unusual task that was.

“There’s a lot of lost souls who are struggling to find their way to Aippaq tonight,” Sikrinerk explained, “And I’ve been looking for a tokota who can help me.”

“But why me?” Okazaki had questioned, “I’ve never done anything like that before.”

“You have, in a way,” Sikrinerk had pointed out playfully. “Mediating between tamers and wild tokotas and herding spirits really isn’t all that different, you know~”

Okazaki wasn’t so sure about that, but she didn’t argue with the fluffy goddess. Instead, she curiously agreed, and set out with Sikrinerk to find the lost souls of the recently departed.

It was much harder work than she ever could have anticipated. Once she got over the initial shock of locating and seeing ghostly spirits – abilities temporarily granted by Sikrinerk’s power – she worked diligently to find and guide as many as she could manage up to the Ridge of Elders. The trek up the hill was tiring, but it was nothing compared to the emotional toil of dealing with the ghosts of the dead.

Many weren’t immediately convinced that they were dead and struggled or argued against Okazaki’s gentle persuasion. Oftentimes, prey animals kept their instinct to flee from the albino predator, meaning that she was forced to chase after them on more than one occasion. Okazaki’s mediating skills were really put to the test as she rounded up the departed souls, from as small as rabbits to as large as dire tokotas, guiding them up to the Ridge where Sikrinerk assisted them in ascending up into Aippaq’s waves of rainbow lights in the night sky.

At last, Sikrinerk announced the last spirit that needed help in making it up the Ridge. A lone deer, whose time had come following a bullet wound to the shoulder, was wandering lost and alone in the plane of the living. It didn’t take long before Okazaki located the deer’s spirit. She was terribly frightened and awfully confused, and it took some reassurance from Okazaki before she was calm enough to make the journey. But her glowing apparition looked young, strong and healthy; there wasn’t a single mark on her, as was the case with all the other spirits. No matter how gruesome their death, the souls were always wholesome, and untouched.

Okazaki reflected wondrously on this fact as she began to lead the doe’s spirit up the Ridge of Elders, with a simple, soft instruction,

“Follow me.”

WC: 570