&& Now I'm back from outer space

Time, three long years to be exact, passed so dreadfully slowly when being punished by gods. If someone could ask Sisyphus about time as he rolled his massive stone uphill, to only have to chase it right back down the hill, how would he feel about its passage? For those who were not blessedly immortal, time marched on like a stalwart soldier off to war. Ice flows bumped into each other as the oceans froze over, and cold northern winds ushered in a thick fog to cloak the land in white. The creaking of the ice flow and gentle lapping of the ocean against the shoreline roused her, feeling her makeshift boat pitch and halt as it bumped its way along the coast and saw her to her feet. She unfurled herself in one graceful motion, a shimmering mass of gold, silver, and quartz. Like a goddess born from the sea, the beast rose up from her ice boat and jumped to the earth.

Ivory claws reached out and flexed in the ice, filling her paws with Borean snow. Finally, after the many she sacrificed to the Firefly God for passage to her true home, Lurid touched down and stared in wonder that she made the trip once again. Ilyn groaned as he made land and carried her armor, while Samael - her faithful Augur Buzzard - snickered at the tiny polar bear. The pale goddess flashed a glare over her shoulder, a pink scar shimmering in silvery moonlight over the left side of her face making her dark glower seem that much worse. Dual vocals clashed together in a soft warning growl to the pair, the powdery queen would have reverent silence this evening.

Both of her companions knew better than to test her when she had just come from traveling over the ocean, Ilyn had come with her on her first trip and had almost been eaten during that time. She had been younger and filled with dreams before a broken leg saw her bested by another entity and banished for three years to a cursed homeland. Lurid sat in the shadow of the massive metal cave that her dreams once rested in, poised at such a young age to rule an empire like no other. The ghost of a smile hinted across her rosy lips as memory after memory flooded over her, how would time have changed this side of the barrier? Time had changed the devil but not for the better, and with ghosts of the past haunting her diminished sight, Lurid could feel her mood plummet. Hunger clawed at her belly after weeks of drifting at sea praying the currents would bring her home, seeing a sneer cross the delicate scarred features of her face. Clouded left eye and holographic lavender-white eye shine in an otherworldly fashion for a moment as the moon finds her in the mists, seeing the ghost disappear into the belly of the metal behemoth.

The scent of recent visitors spurred her into the cavernous depths of the ship, followed closely by Samael and Ilyn with the bird on the bear's back. Feeling as though she had been severely slighted, the ivory beast moved confidently through shadows and darkness, silver and gold brindle covering the crystalline quartz white of her coat, the ghost could not hide. Perfectly honed ears picked up the best placement of paws so that she appeared to float through the narrow hallways, keeping her claws off the metal floor to remain silent while searching for something to take her rage out on or eat. Her mind was clouded with hunger-fueled rage, her body going into survival mode after fasting for so long. Nervously, her companions look at one another while they follow close, careful not to get in the phantom queen's way or ruin her hunt.