warriorscribe | Snowblind Inbox

She does end up with all the clothes off her body.

[He means to put it more eloquently but it gets lost in his language skills.]

[He can't help but laugh.]

As in a true rebirth, I take it, though I don't doubt the writer's imagination was quite vivid.

Given the one of my world lived in danger of attack at all times, it's good she was not resurrected unarmed and unclothed like this one seems to have been.

[Yeahhh about that.]

Before. The story proceeds that she passes gate after gate into the underworld.

At each gate she is compelled to shed a piece of her regalia. Finally, she falls naked and powerless before Ereshkigal.

Ereshkigal?

[Give him a moment...]

Oh, I remember now, yes. The goddess of the underworld.

And no other tale of Ishtar has this theme?

I don't recall any other at this point in time. I will have to put my mind to this thought some more.

Never underestimate the bored or the lonely, but there's a lesson about not taking your worldly protection into the underworld to be had as well.

[It's not totally pointless (but it probably was).]

There is a rather frightening truth to that, actually. While my Heavenly armor remained on my body in The Darkness, my weapons could not follow me there.

Edited (oh my god this html will not behave) 2017-11-03 06:50 (UTC)

What is The Darkness you speak of?

Have you ventured into the underworld, too?

It is what most Earthly nations call the underworld, though it is no natural place for a human soul to come to rest. Heaven is the only place a soul should be - in The Darkness, they fuel demons' power and become twisted into their pawns. I have been there several times, venturing into its pits to gather the remains of Ishtar's first body, in which she imbued her prophecy.

[And then there was that other time where he jumped in to save a little girl even though he knew she was just being used as bait. No excuse not to save the innocent even if he knew it was a trap. But he's not going to talk about that.]

[Flynn frowns; that was a long and complicated explanation and his brain needs a moment to decipher all the possible meanings behind the words.]

All souls go to Heaven in your world then?

[That's perfectly fine - immersion is the best teacher, after all, and Enoch is willing to wait. He's half-expecting to have to answer a question, but he's glad when Flynn's response comes and it's correct. Mostly.]

Ideally. It's where a soul is compelled to go after its body dies, but if it is chained to Earth somehow, or if a demon has laid claim to it, or has been stalking the dying person in the hopes of snatching up their soul, they can be stolen away.

The Tower the Grigori built was accomplished with the aid of a demon prince. In return, he claimed all the souls of those who died within it. For three hundred years, anyone who lived and died there was condemned by default. The Grigori had a veritable army of twisted souls. There were lines of victims fed into the depths of Belial's domain.

[Flynn listens solemnly. On the one hand he likes the idea of a default Heaven – no sinners left behind for arbitrary rules on morality and wrongdoing.

On the other hand, and again he needs a moment to work through the message, three hundred years of automatic condemnation sounds quite unfair to him.]

It does not have a pleasant sound.

It's not pleasant. Humans taken alive may be saved, but souls, once twisted, may only have hope of purification by perishing again to a holy weapon. Only Ishtar's soul managed to wander The Darkness without becoming corrupted, because of her strong blessings.

Even so, I'm still not sure they've truly gone to Heaven when they are defeated. I don't know if Heaven can mend the damage the demons inflicted on them.

This is great woe. I feel a pain very great for the souls perished.

[It's a bit dramatic but he is not really sure how else to express himself.]

[He gets it. Dramatic or not, it's genuine.]

So do I. So many people, tricked for so long with nothing more than a promise of an easier, more comfortable life. They had no idea they were trading away the hardships of an ordinary life for an eternity of suffering after death.

It is a sad tale.

Protecting the innocent is a difficult task.

Someone else who nominally keeps books but is in fact a protector of others? You sound like you understand from experience.

In...

[He searches for the word for a moment.]

In theory.

What is it you do, besides keep books?

[Well, he wouldn't even know how to explain that in Akkadian.]

I travel the lands to keep more books.

So, you search for more books. Do you maintain your collection, yourself?

And why does this also involve protecting others?

I never claimed to be the protector of others.

[Whoops?]

No, I do my work at a grand Library.

Ah, I must have misunderstood. You meant you only understand how difficult it is to protect others "in theory", correct?

[Differing fluency levels are fun, aren't they?]

[He smiles.]

It is still much that I have to learn of the words of Akkad.

You're doing very well - more practice will only aid you. Or are you beginning to tire of this?

[Speaking Akkadian with an actual Akkadian? Are you kidding?]

I will never tire of this!

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