Arms of the Astral Self

Two large spectral arms hover near her shoulders, clawed but humanoid in shape and yellow in colour. The arms are muscular with glowing tattooed lines and runes that spiral up the forearms.

Visage of the Astral Self

This spectral visage covers the top of her face like a mask, resembling a snake skull with similar glowing tattooes to the arms.

Complete Astral Self

A spectral body covers her physical form like a suit of armour, connecting with the arms and visage and raising her body 1ft off the ground. This form is muscular and feminine in appearance, the glowing tattooes that cover it sprawl out from the center of a scaled chest. It seems to be wearing a ghostly, armless armour and has a long reptillian tail.

Generally speaking, Kiri is a rather anxious young lady; she can find something to worry about in any given situation, and if left to ponder over her own thoughts for too long, she has a tendency to spiral further and further into paranoid ramblings. With that said, despite lacking the signature 'calm and collected' nature of a monk, she is a very accomplished one amidst her monastery, and one of the only to progress as far as she has in the Way of the Astral Self. Though she's improved greatly from when she was younger, her anxieties still have the tendency to eat at her and dwindle her confidence in herself, and she sometimes struggles to find the courage to branch out and explore new opportunities with the conviction she wishes she had - but aside from that, Kiri is a pretty regular teen, if not a little more reserved than some of her peers.

In her free time - when not training, meditating, or generally helping around the monastery - Kiri can often be found up in one of the trees around the outskirts of the monastery perimeters, or on the small island in the centre of her favourite serene lake. She likes to climb up high and draw the ever changing scenery that surrounds her home with whatever charcoal or inks the teachers let her take, or fatten up the birds that visit her with the hardtack she's grown too tired of to continue snacking on. There have been a few times she's collaborated with a friend to make story books for the younger children in the monastery, with the friend writing the story and Kiri providing illustrations.

While not much of a chef herself, after years of eating nothing but the bland-but-efficient meals the monastery had to offer, Kiri has learned to truly appreciate literally anything with more flavour than a few sprinklings of salt. When presented with large amounts of well-made and diverse foods, she can't help but gorge herself, often surprising any unlucky onlookers with the ferocity and speed in which she can inhale a meal. She's shown herself to be very food motivated, and her dream is to one day own a restaurant -- just so that she can eat good food for free whenever she wants.

Kiri prefers to avoid any dangerous situations she can (though, as of late she's been doing a pretty bad job) but mid-fight or training is usually when she is most composed, letting go of her thoughts in exchange for freeing up her body to follow the instincts she's been trained to trust. Unfortunately for her, when there's nothing left to punch the unease returns without mercy, though she finds it can sometimes be quelled by a nice soothing meditation session.

The Monastery of Istus

Kiri was brought to the monastery by her birth parents at a very young age, and as such, she doesn't really remember anything about them aside from their last name. Much like many of the people living there, she was raised by the Masters and Temple Heads, all training alongside each other as monks of the Goddess of Fate, Istus. Kiri grew up only knowing the devastation that failed attempts at the tower brought, so her life has known very few luxuries due to the monastery's limited resources.

In her time growing up at the monastery, naturally Kiri has formed some close bonds with a small group of fellow monks. Since she's so easy to spook and mess with, she gets teased and picked on quite a bit, especially by some of the younger kids. Despite that, she still tends to take on the roll of an older sibling, now that she's gotten to be one of the monastery's older students.

Training as a monk has helped a lot with Kiri's anxiety, largely credited to the focus on 'calmness of the mind, body, and soul', especially when it comes to the Way of the Astral Self. Thanks to the teachings of her favourite Master at the monastery, she's found meditation to be the best way to calm herself down when her anxieties get out of control, and when she's fighting and using her Astral arms, all her fears and worries seem to melt away in favour of the calmness and focus that following her soul's instincts brings.

The Sapphire Spire

still a bit of a WIP!!

500 years ago, a mysterious tower holding deadly trials arose in the capital city of Aerased, Arcrine, placed there by the god Iildem who was angered by the lack of worship he received from his greedy people. Titled 'The Sapphire Spire', every 10 years the challenges it held within were to be braved by a group of four residents of the land, known as 'Messiah's - people who are either selected by a seer and chosen through a draw, or volunteers willing to brave the trials by choice.

If the Messiahs succeeded in their attempt at the spire, a generous blessing would befall the land of Aerased; crops and businesses would thrive, mines would be plentiful, and luck always on their side. But if they were to fail, they would not only lose their lives, but the country would suffer terrible tragedy, overrun with famine, war, and death. At the time, the country was still grappling with the curse that came after their first failure in 100 years when it's neighbouring nation, Kasnar, took note of Aerased's weakened state and used it as an opportunity to attack, resulting in a very bleak decade for the land and it's people, and an even higher desperation to return to their former glory with another blessing from the tower.

Kiri was one of the four Messiahs chosen to face the Sapphire Spire, though she was the youngest and only one to be selected against her will. She was not pleased to say the least, overcome with anxiety and fear that she would die to the brutal tower like those that had preceded her - but the monastery was built on the foundation of attempting to train monks worthy of the trials, and the king of Aerased was not one to be refused. So - with a fog of mixed feelings rolling throughout the monastery - Kiri was sent on her way, bags packed with haste and hardly any time to say goodbye to those she considered family.

As Kiri had feared, the trials of the tower were as frightening and perilous as the rumours had foretold, and there were many times throughout in which she was certain they would fail and die horrible deaths - but, thankfully, with the help of her new teammates Sybel, Leighlia, and Nephethys, they made it to the top of the Sapphire Spire. They were met with the congratulations of the God who crafted the tower itself, Iildem, who had an offer for them; they could leave and claim the blessed then and there, or, if they wished, complete one last challenge to end the curse of the Sapphire Spire for good.

The conditions were simple, if they were able to defeat Iildem's Champion in battle, no more curses would befall the land of Aerased, and the tower would crumble to the ground. Kiri was, of course, hesitant to accept and doubtful of their success - it was the champion of a God after all - but her teammates were eager to be rid of the tower and so was she, so with some self-induced peer-pressure and maybe a little delirium from the exhaustion, Kiri agreed to fight with them.

The fight was brutal, terrifying, yet ended with their victory. Though the champion turned out to be a powerful Hydra, they somehow managed to best it with no casualties - in fact, Sybel cut off one of it's heads! The challenge was truly completed, and as promised, when the group left the tower, it collapsed behind them.

Their success and the end of the Sapphire Spire was met with much reverie and celebration, and as promised by the King, much rewards too. Although the experience was traumatic and surreal to say the least, she was glad to have persevered, as well as to have made some new friends along the way. The warm welcome she received upon returning to her home town and the large sum of gold were also a pretty big bonus - she even got big bedroom all to herself as a gift for her hard work, and for donating part of her reward to help improve the Monastery.