Hail To The Queen (just in)
message to everyone on Beluaterra
At long last, the opaque swirls of colour in the portal begin to coalesce into concrete shapes.
Though some are many hundreds of miles from the portal, all on Beluaterra find themselves somehow fully aware of what happens next.
Incantatrix and Cacabula cease their chanting, their bodies now shining like miniature suns with the energies they have gathered. They kneel on either side of Azerax, who still stands staring into the portal, a rapt expression on his face.
He stares up now, as on the other side of the portal a humanoid form has begun to take shape. It is tall—taller than Strategus—and it coruscates with power. As before, the details of its form and features are cloaked in shimmering shadow, but its eyes are completely clear: eyes that match the brand upon Azerax's face.
Azerax steps forward now, and reaches both hands up toward the portal. The hands of the figure on the other side reach down toward him, as if in a skewed mirror. They touch just as both reach the surface of the portal itself.
The hands that appear from beyond are a slate-blue, and appear like the hands of a perfectly formed human woman, save for their large size and the claw tipping each finger. There is a faint shimmer in the air around them, but not as strong as that surrounding Incantatrix. The hands grasp Azerax's wrists, as he grasps hers, and then he begins to step back, a wondering smile spreading across his face.
The smile is somewhat surprising, given that his flesh seems to be starting to smoke where it touches the hands from the portal.
Inch by inch, Azerax appears to be pulling the figure through the portal. As her arms come almost fully through, she ducks her head to be able to pass safely under the top of the portal's arch...
...and Domina steps from the Netherworld into our world for the first time in human history.
Her face and form are perfection, and to gaze upon her is to learn despair, for she can never be obtained, and never be matched by any human man or woman. Her eyes are a swirl of colours surrounding a white-hot point in the center, always rotating, and they can pierce through the soul in an instant.
Then she speaks, with a voice like the most beautiful and majestic music, and the world goes silent to listen.
"Azerax, mortal human, you have been blessed as no other before you, for not only have you gazed upon my face, you have twice been the instrument of my return to this plane. Now shall I complete your blessing."
She lays one hand on his head, closes her eyes, tilts her head back slightly, and opens her mouth.
Azerax stiffens, and something seems to rise from his body, like smoke and yet not, and flow into her mouth. As it does, his body ages and desiccates, until within moments, he is nothing but dried sticks of bone.
Domina shudders in apparent pleasure as Azerax's bones crumble to dust before her. She stands there, savouring the moment, for several seconds, then gestures to her two lieutenants.
"Come," she says, and strides from the temple. As she does so, Incantatrix and Cacabula follow. Behind them, a new phalanx of Daimon warriors marches forth from the portal.
Outside, she climbs the steps to the bell. She caresses it lovingly, and it sings back to her a soft song as she does so. Then she turns her back to it and faces outward.
"Humans of this world, the time when you were allowed to live in lies is over. Now I have returned to claim what is mine, and all your armies shall be like dust in the wind before me."
She raises her arms, and true to her words, a mighty wind rises up. It blows outward from the temple, and the armies of men marching toward it find themselves slowed, then stopped, then pushed back as the wind grows stronger.
"Bow to Domina, humans, or be utterly destroyed."
