Aneli

Aneli wasn't really born into a family--she was born with a purpose. Her mother and father were candidates selected by a high priestess, and through a ritualised meeting the two conceived of her. They were told not to become attached to the life they'd created, because it was not theirs. It was the Moon-Eater's.

The Children of the Moon-Eater is a hold-over cult from ancient civilization, worshipping an even more ancient being. The Moon-Eater speaks to her followers in whispers, and she tells them that she will one day devour the sky, and the world will be hers--and what's hers is theirs.

One of the strongest branches of the dark and secretive cult exists in the underbelly of Exanna; underground, living secretly in the dark ruins of the old city live a hundred followers, biding their time, praying to their goddess, awaiting her demands. No one knows how they found the small area of the city, but this is not a secret they would ever share. All that is known is that the Moon-Eater's antechamber was uncovered, unearthed, and now her Children wait.

25 years ago, the Moon-Eater told her High Priestess that she needed a body. That in order for her to return to her powers that were lost in ages passed, she would need a portal into the world--a vessel. A child, designed to carry her soul until she would regain her strength, and she could shatter the confines of her vessel, and be born anew to the realm.

Aneli was born to an audience of priests--her mother laid in the hall of the Moon-Eater, before the feet of the goddess's statue. The child did not cry when she entered the world, she roared, her little body fighting to find form, writhing and shifting in the High Priestess' hands. Eventually, the horrible beast settled, finding itself settled as a newborn baby, mewling pitifully; only the markings on it's body denoted the war that had just come to pass. the markings of eyes on her cheeks, bars on her throat and legs where there had been sinew and scales, the length of her tiny arms all the same dark red, where moments before there had been four extra limbs. Looking at the baby, one may not have been aware that she was born a monster. But her eyes glinted gold.

Aneli was revered. The priests would worship at her feet, rather than the statues now; they would ask her questions, and sometimes the voice that would answer was not hers. She would be dressed in the finery that the voice requested, was granted the finest foods, the greatest comforts that could be achieved within the Childrens' means. None of these were things that she wanted, but things that the voice inside of her wanted.

She doesn't know who in the commune were her birth parents. She was told not to care, that they were beneath her, that she did not need parents. The High Priestess took care of her, calling her a queen, calling her Mother. They all did, but Aneli knew they didn't mean her. They were speaking to her.

Aneli started to call her Mother, too. The voice was her only friend, only family. And she took care of her. When she'd fall, her skin would repair itself where she scraped her knee. If something would try to harm her, she would grow scales, teeth. She learned that she could summon fire, that she could see things that others couldn't, that when she spoke, sometimes, people would do whatever she said. And Mother would laugh inside her head, and coo at her, that she's done a good job.

Her powers grew as she got older, and she grew more confident in them as well. At the same time, she was becoming restless; she'd never been allowed out in the world save on rare occasions when she was allowed to sit in the commune's garden, hidden in the courtyard between some old buildings above ground; all that she'd had were stories told to her in secret by one of the other children of the commune, about the market places, the caravans, the desert. She wanted, more than anything to see the world that had been described to her, experience things, meet people--Mother, at first, warned her that there was nothing worth seeing out there, not yet... but eventually, she became curious, too.

One day, now 19, she used her voice to demand that the doors be opened, and that she be let go without protest or struggle. And they did--it was almost too easy--and she left. She was scared as she stepped out into the world for the first time, for real, but Mother was with her. And the world they saw was beautiful.

She stood out in the crowd--a scrawny, tall girl with strange markings, and fine clothing, though it was all of an outdated fashion. She couldn't stop turning her head for all the sights she was finally seeing; the markets, the caravan, the people. She explored the city for hours, bartering her jewellery for food, a book. She found the old tower and stared up at it for an age. Mother asked her if she wanted it to be hers. She said she wanted to have everything. But while Mother was thinking of the world in the palm of her clawed hand, Aneli was thinking about seeing it all for herself.

After that, confinement wasn't enough for her. She was dragged back kicking and screaming, and the Children tried to make her more comfortable--more nice things, more rich foods, more worship, sacrifice. But Mother was not satisfied either--how was she to learn the ways of her domain-to-be if she was trapped under the earth in a dead city? So the girl and the goddess began scheming.

She escaped a little over a year later, not long after her 21st birthday. She used her voice again, but she was too impatient, and it didn't hold; the High Priestess woke as she was slipping into the city, and gave chase. Aneli, dodging the High Priestess as she made her way across Exanna, found a caravan leaving to cross the Minnelan, and stowed away on board. From her hiding spot, she could see the High Priestess looking for her, and while she was relieved to be rid of her, she knew that the Children of the Moon-Eater would never stop looking for her.

She's spent the years since travelling, never staying in one place for long. She's come across hints of other branches of the cult and has avoided them, though Mother wants to see her Children. But Aneli won the argument, because if the Children found out who she was, she would never be free again. But, the longer Aneli was away from the Children and their prayers, the weaker her powers became--no longer could she grow scales or fangs, and when she did, it was in dire circumstances. The one time she did, she nearly lost herself to Mother's influence, turning into a half-beast with six golden eyes.

The High Priestess turned up from time to time, but the two of them avoided her, despite some occasional near-misses, one leaving her with a scar on her face as the High Priestess attacked her, trying to subdue her. She escaped that event, realising the true extent of the loss of her powers, and decided that she needed to find some other solution to travelling alone.