DarkSirenSally/BlackCalyx

Black Calyx Salvation

She Fell From Grace... =

Sakajima Asami was once to be a priestess of Vesperna, the Handmaiden of the Unconquered Sun. Trained among the Lily's Calyces, a healer of uncommon talent even before her Exaltation, Asami was a favorite of Amemiya Mieko, High Priestess of the Floating Lily Garden, and already groomed from a young age to become her successor. But Mieko's high hopes for her were dashed when she became enamored of a visiting Twilight Solar, Itsunari Katsuo, formerly a tactician of Lookshy's venerable military. She lost her virginity to him, GAVE it to him no less, willingly and willfully -- and was summarily cast out of the Floating Lily Garden forever.

Yet the Unconquered Sun took note of her, gave her a chance at salvation when Mieko could look at her only with withering scorn and merciless disappointment. She left the Garden at Katsuo's side as a Chosen of the Sun, a Zenith Caste bearing with her the Handmaiden's Harbinger, the Orichalcum Grand Daiklave which called to her from the depths of the temple's ancient treasury. And they traveled together -- they saw the world, as companions and budding lovers. They brought healing and wisdom where they walked, combating disease, banditry, slavery, the increasing activities of the Undead in the East.

...Not Once...

But the guilt of Asami's transgression never quite left her mind, as much as they grew to care for one another. She had sinned in the eyes of the Goddess -- she, consecrated as one of the Handmaiden's servants, giving away her precious virginity for selfishness and curiosity and lust. The memory of it still managed to taint what they shared, for Asami would never allow herself to forget it. Cast down from Vesperna's priestesshood, she still prayed without fail to the Goddess every day, still lived as a Calyx would despite the impurity she represented. She was the Sun's Chosen, and offered the Unconquered Sun the same respect she showed the Goddess, but it was Vesperna whom she truly revered, as if constantly, relentlessly pursuing some hope for salvation in her eyes. Much as a spurned child would beseech her mother for acceptance, for without it she cannot truly accept herself.

Thus was Asami's brief life defined by a constant internal conflict between her love and desire for Katsuo and her devotion to the Goddess she was brought up to serve. Perhaps she was flawed, and the Unconquered Sun had erred in choosing her. The thought slipped insiduously into her mind no matter how many lives her actions saved as she and Katsuo perpetuated the selfless acts of compassion they became known for in the East. She may have overcome those punishing thoughts, given time -- but there were forces at work that would not allow her to forget what she had done. Whispers that claimed she had been chosen as the vessel of a Solar shard whose fate was to be corrupted. Shadows that followed her, watched her unforgivingly as she prayed and healed and learned and opened her heart to love despite all the doubts and fears and self-loathing gripping her mind.

...But Twice.

One day, Sakajima Asami disappeared from the face of Creation. Stolen away, or willingly followed, none would know. None save Itsunari Katsuo, who failed to protect her and would live with that stain in his heart for as long as she remained lost to him. When she resurfaced, stripped of all radiance, garbed in utter blackness with pale cheeks streaked with blood-tears, she was known as Black Calyx Weeping, a Midnight Caste Abyssal. She had been twisted into the culmination of all the wickedness she believed herself to embody.

And her mournful cries would stir the restless dead and rend all she had once loved to pieces.

Can She Be Saved Again?

Amemiya Mieko, High Priestess of the Floating Lily Garden, has enlisted a small group of Exalts in order to eliminate the blight of this priestess-turned-abomination from Creation. Soon, the fate of Black Calyx will rest in their hands... for better or for worse.