Harmonia’s quill hovered over the vellum, hesitant in the face of every wordsmith’s bane. That great and nigh insurmountable beast—the blank page—waited bright and expectant beneath her writing hand. It was a battle she knew all too well. Around her sat the stacked tomes of an unfinished canto, a tale she had been crafting since departing her doomed home lifetimes before. Still, despite her experience, she was no less susceptible to the power of a blank page, each encounter presenting a challenge different from the last.
Today, she found that there was too much to say, the inkwell miniscule against the wellspring of emotion within her. The thoughts she’d entertained since she met the people of this world had finally coalesced into an unshakable resolve. No longer would she drift across the ages, unchanging and distantly observing, unable to walk alongside the beings that had made a home out of her heart.
She would tie herself to this mortal coil, and so the goddess Harmonia would live and die as all humans do.
It was a choice she could never take back, a promise that would finally deliver her unto her end. Not only was it difficult, but it had no precedent. How many times had she ever interacted with another god before, much less heard of one dying? A being who, through amassing massive amounts of divine power, surpassed all known mortal and supernatural limits… By her people’s definition of a god, it was impossible for them to die, and back when she had flown among her brethren, she’d never thought to ask otherwise.
Now, how many seasons had passed since she’d accidentally found herself at the apex of existence, and how many more since she’d begun to search for her path back down to the realm of man? Perhaps that madwoman would know… But there was no way for Harmonia to ask her. In this predicament, it was a prerequisite to tread into the unknown for the sake of research.
She didn’t regret her time as the people’s beloved Lady, the power they granted her through their love allowing her to shelter them beneath her wings across generations.
But she missed them.
Thankfully, her search had borne fruit—it wouldn’t be long before she could return to their side.
Still, there was so much to prepare for. Construction on the grand tower that would house the World Seed had begun. Once completed, Harmonia would use it to redirect the flow of divine energy into the world itself, mankind’s prayers strengthening their shared land rather than the angel who never deserved such adoration in the first place.
Only when divested of that endless stream of divine energy could she consider herself a true citizen of Asphodel, equal to all those who had ever tread upon their meadows. After one final life, equal in length to their own, she would seal herself within the World Seed. Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust—although her body could not nurture the soil as theirs did, it would nurture all life forevermore.
She felt that divine energy flowing through her even now, how it threatened her deepest desire with power and immortality beyond mortal ken. It would be her final parting gift, yet by no means her only one. Her divine energy would protect their home, but what would protect their hearts?
The quill trembled in her hand, lyrics forming in her mind. This set of cantos, from lullabies to requiems, would be her most personal and treasured gift. A tale sung by the future songstresses who would follow in her wake, the people whose voices resonated with the world’s aether—and thus with her own heart.
Having watched them for so long, she wholeheartedly believed in mankind’s future. Harmonia knew how they struggled and fell, but what mattered was their resilience. No matter how far from the righteous path they strayed, she had seen them return to the light time and time again. Whether led by their own heart or guided by a helping hand, they could overcome any hardship. It was something she hoped was true of her own kind.
Regardless of her becoming a god—as an angel, she knew her life would’ve always been so much longer than the humans around her. What mattered to her was this: So long as they could walk towards the end side by side, then the journey would be worthwhile. And what a long journey it had been.
Harmonia could have never imagined her present circumstances as she flew into the vast ocean of stars, her home appearing to sink into the endless black of space as she drifted further and further away. Become the light which guides the seed to fruition… How many of her brethren had been sent into the cold unknown with that command? She was neither the first nor the last, but what had become of the others remained a mystery.
In her lonely years before arriving, she dreamed of her friends and family, her birthplace, all while filling the chasm of their absence with one long, lilting song: the melody of a march into the terrifying depths, facing damnation with only the wisdom of their forbearers and hope’s brilliant flame within their chest to keep them safe.
Had they found Eden?
She turned her head to look out upon the lands of Asphodel. Had she?
The question had been running through her mind from the moment she saw the planet’s lush landscape of greens and blues against the black expanse to when her feet touched the warm earth of that blooming flower meadow. Greeted by the local peoples’ bewildered yet curious expressions, welcomed beside their hearths, kept clothed and fed despite what little they had…
Hundreds of years had passed since, yet in exploring every nook and cranny of this great and beautiful land, she had not found an answer. At each new turn, the song born from her deepest loneliness grew into something far more intricate, until one day—she found that the people of Asphodel were singing alongside her.
Through their blood, sweat, and tears, that forlorn aria turned into an entirely new canto. They taught her that a song is not just comprised of its singer. Through her voice, she weaved their collective parts together: their prayers, all of their hopes and dreams, composed into one harmonious wish. She could feel how they colored each word, down to the air that whistled through her with the full rainbow of human emotion in every breath.
At the core of everything was their love, boundless and reckless and more brilliant than anything she had seen through her journey across the glimmering stars. Together their voices rose until song became prayer, and she ascended far beyond the strength of a mere guiding angel. To think that even here, so far from her birthplace, she would find the power of music echoing just as strong.
Eden was here. Perhaps not the Eden her people had sent her in search of, that theoretical world upon which they could remake their home—but her Eden. One that belonged to the people of Asphodel and them alone. Those whose hearts beat in tandem with the land, whose music swelled her heart with so much love that it was here she would sow the World Seed and lay down her own roots forevermore.
Truly whatever of the holy realm
I had the power to treasure in my mind
Shall now become the subject of my song.
Art by 貝暴龍
Written by apricot
Today, she found that there was too much to say, the inkwell miniscule against the wellspring of emotion within her. The thoughts she’d entertained since she met the people of this world had finally coalesced into an unshakable resolve. No longer would she drift across the ages, unchanging and distantly observing, unable to walk alongside the beings that had made a home out of her heart.
She would tie herself to this mortal coil, and so the goddess Harmonia would live and die as all humans do.
It was a choice she could never take back, a promise that would finally deliver her unto her end. Not only was it difficult, but it had no precedent. How many times had she ever interacted with another god before, much less heard of one dying? A being who, through amassing massive amounts of divine power, surpassed all known mortal and supernatural limits… By her people’s definition of a god, it was impossible for them to die, and back when she had flown among her brethren, she’d never thought to ask otherwise.
Now, how many seasons had passed since she’d accidentally found herself at the apex of existence, and how many more since she’d begun to search for her path back down to the realm of man? Perhaps that madwoman would know… But there was no way for Harmonia to ask her. In this predicament, it was a prerequisite to tread into the unknown for the sake of research.
She didn’t regret her time as the people’s beloved Lady, the power they granted her through their love allowing her to shelter them beneath her wings across generations.
But she missed them.
Thankfully, her search had borne fruit—it wouldn’t be long before she could return to their side.
Still, there was so much to prepare for. Construction on the grand tower that would house the World Seed had begun. Once completed, Harmonia would use it to redirect the flow of divine energy into the world itself, mankind’s prayers strengthening their shared land rather than the angel who never deserved such adoration in the first place.
Only when divested of that endless stream of divine energy could she consider herself a true citizen of Asphodel, equal to all those who had ever tread upon their meadows. After one final life, equal in length to their own, she would seal herself within the World Seed. Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust—although her body could not nurture the soil as theirs did, it would nurture all life forevermore.
She felt that divine energy flowing through her even now, how it threatened her deepest desire with power and immortality beyond mortal ken. It would be her final parting gift, yet by no means her only one. Her divine energy would protect their home, but what would protect their hearts?
The quill trembled in her hand, lyrics forming in her mind. This set of cantos, from lullabies to requiems, would be her most personal and treasured gift. A tale sung by the future songstresses who would follow in her wake, the people whose voices resonated with the world’s aether—and thus with her own heart.
Having watched them for so long, she wholeheartedly believed in mankind’s future. Harmonia knew how they struggled and fell, but what mattered was their resilience. No matter how far from the righteous path they strayed, she had seen them return to the light time and time again. Whether led by their own heart or guided by a helping hand, they could overcome any hardship. It was something she hoped was true of her own kind.
Regardless of her becoming a god—as an angel, she knew her life would’ve always been so much longer than the humans around her. What mattered to her was this: So long as they could walk towards the end side by side, then the journey would be worthwhile. And what a long journey it had been.
Harmonia could have never imagined her present circumstances as she flew into the vast ocean of stars, her home appearing to sink into the endless black of space as she drifted further and further away. Become the light which guides the seed to fruition… How many of her brethren had been sent into the cold unknown with that command? She was neither the first nor the last, but what had become of the others remained a mystery.
In her lonely years before arriving, she dreamed of her friends and family, her birthplace, all while filling the chasm of their absence with one long, lilting song: the melody of a march into the terrifying depths, facing damnation with only the wisdom of their forbearers and hope’s brilliant flame within their chest to keep them safe.
Had they found Eden?
She turned her head to look out upon the lands of Asphodel. Had she?
The question had been running through her mind from the moment she saw the planet’s lush landscape of greens and blues against the black expanse to when her feet touched the warm earth of that blooming flower meadow. Greeted by the local peoples’ bewildered yet curious expressions, welcomed beside their hearths, kept clothed and fed despite what little they had…
Hundreds of years had passed since, yet in exploring every nook and cranny of this great and beautiful land, she had not found an answer. At each new turn, the song born from her deepest loneliness grew into something far more intricate, until one day—she found that the people of Asphodel were singing alongside her.
Through their blood, sweat, and tears, that forlorn aria turned into an entirely new canto. They taught her that a song is not just comprised of its singer. Through her voice, she weaved their collective parts together: their prayers, all of their hopes and dreams, composed into one harmonious wish. She could feel how they colored each word, down to the air that whistled through her with the full rainbow of human emotion in every breath.
At the core of everything was their love, boundless and reckless and more brilliant than anything she had seen through her journey across the glimmering stars. Together their voices rose until song became prayer, and she ascended far beyond the strength of a mere guiding angel. To think that even here, so far from her birthplace, she would find the power of music echoing just as strong.
Eden was here. Perhaps not the Eden her people had sent her in search of, that theoretical world upon which they could remake their home—but her Eden. One that belonged to the people of Asphodel and them alone. Those whose hearts beat in tandem with the land, whose music swelled her heart with so much love that it was here she would sow the World Seed and lay down her own roots forevermore.
I had the power to treasure in my mind
Shall now become the subject of my song.
Art by 貝暴龍
Written by apricot