Quest I: Create Your Offering

Faetide is halfway over. Faetide is over halfway over. Over a month had passed, and yet, I still have made zero progress on the journey to the shrine.

I don't think I'm a lazy person, or someone who procrastinates til the last day, til the very last second. I would like to think that I am motivated to pay my respects at the Fable's Shrine, but alas; I seem to be facing an insurmountable roadblock that I just can't seem to get over, no matter what I do.

I've rummaged through my den with what feels like a thousand over times. I've searched and scoured both externally and internally. I've tried, and cosmos have I been trying, to search deep within myself.

What kinds of gifts would a deity like? Those around me have suggested gifts such as flowers, bouquets, or treasure shards.

But that isn't what I'm searching for.

I want an offering that is so genuine, so perfect, that I would not feel shameful or like I didn't put in enough effort. I don't want to treat offerings like a chore, something that I have to do, am obliged to complete.

I want to do something that is both unique, yet meaningful. A gift worthy of the hero of Faetide. Something that Fable would favour, that I... that society, can accept.

Perhaps it's the perfectionist in me. Many have told me to do what I feel is right. Some had advised me to stop over thinking it. Few have asked me, what exactly I was trying to prove.

My intelligence? My magik? Overcompensation for something in the past?

It is so hard to think of an offering- perhaps, the reason is that I'm just not worthy.

Nothing ever felt 'right'. Like there's a sea of storms roiling away at the core of my essence, an archaic swirl of chaos that causes me to tumble and roll without stopping, adrift in the unending nightmares-

"Stop overthinking, Hysi," I hiss to myself, lanterns clanking as I physically shake those thoughts away. "Focus. You don't have much time, after all."

I sigh, as I pace across my den once again, paw prints carving into the hard stone floor, like how a slow drip cleaves a rock in two. How many hours have I spent, doing this exact song and dance? How much magik had I spent, creating and throwing away objects. I've spent a bountiful amount of treasure shards getting advice from seers and religious leaders and asking various magikal indicators.

Even praying, which feels like obligations somedays, yielded no results.

I was back to square one. I have nothing to offer.

Nothing at all.

I breathe out, closing my eye. I can't waste another day again. Not like this.

Do I go to visit Fable's shrine? Maybe one of my wishes were fulfilled. And maybe I can fulfil someone else's wish. Something to give back to the community that accepted me for who I was, and not the selling price of my arcane magik.

I peek out the opening, eye squinting at the sunlight. The monarch butterfly trapped in the glass cage that was one of my two sigils flaps its wings joyously.

Yet, my paws seem to be stuck to the ground, unable- perhaps unwilling- to step out into the light.

I don't wanna go outside. I don't want to leave the safety, comfort, familiarity assured stability of my den.

It's funny, how I spent most of my life wishing to escape, yet now, I am stuck in a prison of my own making.

Somehow, the thought of this sparks some hidden anger deep inside me.

"Enough!" I go out for a walk. Maybe a change of scenery would help. At the very least, I'm not wallowing in self pity in the dark dungeon I call home. "Here's what I've done, or thought about before:

1. A creation of a magical shield for defence.

2. An enchanted sword, forged from the metal of a comet

3. A self sustaining light show, like an entertaining snow globe...

and that's all I have."

Would Fable like any of those? What exactly does the deity like in the first place?

Would it be insulting to gift them their own creations, or poor imitations of such? After all, Fable is Nature's favourite child. The beauty of magik can only be matched by the beauty of nature.

Does Fable even value beauty? Would they perhaps value other attributes instead? Strength, power, speed, intelligence, value, healthy, balance, motion, life- there's an infinite amount of possibilities and an infinitesimal chance that I could ever appease the deity.

What if my offering is so abhorrent, that I...

That I destroy everyone else's hopes and dreams?

There is a non zero possibility that the punishment isn't only limited to me, but spreads to everyone else, like an unending plague.

I slow down, and yet, the forrest surrounding me still looks blurry. My breathing quickens, even if I didn't exert that much physical energy running.

I'm starting to hyperventilate.

Is this what some Arcanai call a 'panic attack'?

"This is so stupid," I berate myself. "I just can't believe..."

In my subconsciousness, I can feel magik swirling in the air, building up around me, but I brush it off.

"...just can't believe..."

The smell of spring take the air out of my lungs, a bright light clears the fog away from my only singular working eye.

"...I can't believe it," only now have I realised the divine spirit that circles around me in a flurry of leaves. I bow, lowering my head to the rich earth down below, lanterns swaying in the playful wind. I close my eye, barely brave enough to peek through slightly at the holi presence right beside me.

The wind, almost simulating a paw, raises my head off the ground, almost as if saying 'rise, my child'.

I blink, and I see that I have ran into Fable's Shrine.

"...What would you like?" I ask with bated breath.

The branches of trees wave, swinging like they are in a dance. The statue stares back at me, with a hint of a smile.

And I was suddenly hit with the realisation that the answer was right in front of me all along.

A deity, considered a hero, isn't vain. They are selfless protectors that sacrificed for the greater good. Fable doesn't need a gift to be a powerful sword, or a clean statue. They accept any and all offerings.

What they wish for...

"...is peace," I smile, for the first time in what feels like eternity.

I understand that the offering is just but a gesture of respect, and the true lesson is to help out other Arcanai. And I know that what I would want to do after is to take care of those less fortunate, those broken but not gone. I want to help others like me.

Still, I do want to offer something. And I just have the perfect gift in mind.

A charm of sanctuary, for anyone who's lost to be able to find somewhere to go.

With that in mind, I excitedly rush back to my den, to begin working on an overcomplicated piece of magik that would serve the vision of the legendary deity themselves.