Cilissa

Cilissa
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Defend the Hearth.jpg}}|250px]] Setessan warriors
Details
Race	Human
Birthplace	A forest village in the domain of Setessa, Theros
Lifetime	Mending Era
Parents	Mother and father, both deceased
Sources

Cilissa is a Setessan warrior on the plane of Theros, who has a bond with the goddess Karametra.

History

When Cilissa was six years old, she was brought to Setessa as an orphan, one among hundreds. A woman spoke, welcoming the children, whom she called arkulli, "little bears". They would be taken care of, fed, and housed. In return, they would train, become strong, and one day, aid in the defense of the city. A vision of Karametra hovered in the starfield of Nyx above Cilissa, speaking directly into her mind, welcoming her, telling her she was loved. She later learned that only she had experienced this divine visit among the children that day.

As Karametra's visage faded, gentle, warm sparks crackled down from above, and where they landed on the grass, small seedlings sprouted and grew quickly. Within seconds, fibrous pods about the size of Cilissa's fist dotted the clearing. Each pod pulsed with a soft green glow. Cilissa picked up one of the pods and she felt the same warmth she had from the sparks. Memories rose, unbidden and unwanted. Her father fell to the first wave of Akroan attackers. His last shout became a scream. Her mother whispered to her to run as fast as she could. And then her mother turned to rush at the soldiers, screaming. But Cilissa didn't see what happened to her mother, because she ran. She had always been so fast, and never faster than that day. She had run and left everything behind. Her village, her friends, her parents.

Cilissa cried, hugging the pod with its gentle green glow fiercely to her chest, rocking back and forth and sobbing. The pod felt so good, so gentle. Cilissa did not stop crying, thinking about her mother and her father and how much she loved them. But for the first time since the attack, she smiled. She hugged the pod and was grateful to finally be home.

When Cilissa was nine years old, she was training with wooded staves, facing off against Thora, who was older, taller, and stronger than Cilissa. But Cilissa was faster and more skilled than Thora was, and they both knew it, so when Cilissa did not take advantage of her skill set, Thora taunted her. Thora knew Cilissa was tricked, and when Cilissa attempted to jump back from a charge, Thora clipped her legs with her staff and sent her sprawling. Cilissa rarely lost, so this surprised most of the other children nearby.

The trainer, Niketa, helped her up and dismissed Thora. Niketa and Cilissa started sparring, and Niketa bid Cilissa attack more, rather than staying on the defensive all the time. Cilissa used her anger to execute a series of attacks which brought Niketa backward several steps but ended with Niketa's staff easily slipping past Cilissa's abandoned defense. Niketa encouraged Cilissa's smart fighting, but she needed to be more aggressive to win. It was not enough to simply be the strongest or the fastest.

When Cilissa was fourteen years old, she was on patrol with Thora. Thora had been acting strange lately, especially around Kelios. It was the time for the boys' peregrinations when they would embark on a journey from Setessa and not come back. In Setessa, almost all adults were women, and most of the men would stay only for a few days. Kelios, tall and awkward, came to say farewell to the two girls. Thora embraced him warmly, but he was looking at Cilissa while they hugged. When he stepped forward to say farewell to Cilissa, she did not make any move to hug him, keenly aware of Thora's glares.

Kelios spent some awkward moments trying to get a conversation going with Cilissa, but she remained passive and bid him farewell on his journey, without any emotion attached. Cilissa was glad Kelios was leaving, hoping it would put an end to both his and Thora's strangeness. Despite this, Thora was furious with Cilissa when Kelios left, and stormed off crying.

Cilissa spotted one of Karametra's seed pods. There were far fewer of them now, but the ones who remained had grown much larger and were now the size of a man lying down. The Setessans refused to talk about what the pods were, but they were still as warm as they had been on that first day, and they brought back memories of her parents, so she lay on the thick, rough husk and thought about the joys of lives different from hers as she soaked up its warmth.

When Cilissa was eighteen years old, she was a blooded warrior, and the Nyxborn were all attacking Setessa in droves. She was part of the defense of the city, along with Thora, Niketa, Natasa, and young Delia. There were thousands of Nyxborn loose around Setessa. They were shaped in recognizable forms — humans, centaurs, minotaurs, and others — but their bodies seemed made out of the night sky, their very skin and muscle alive with the twinkling of stars. There did not seem to be any formal arrangement to their ranks, nor any discipline or tactics to their attacks, and they died just as easily as normal creatures, which was fortunate, but still, there were so many of them, and they came in relentless waves upon waves.

Cilissa blocked as the Nyxborn charged. She plunged her spear into the chest of a centaur, and he leaked a mixture of blood and viscous night sky from his chest. The Nyxborn fought with no emotion - there was no rage, no hatred, no fear. It was as if someone had commanded them to fight, and they had no choice in the matter. As Cilissa fought a humanoid swordsman, she noticed that despite their lack of strategy, Byxborn's battle prowess was quite strong, and she had to use her wits to wear the swordsman down enough to kill him.

Then, beside Cilissa, a Nyxborn minotaur cleaved Delia's midsection in two. At sixteen, she had been too young, too inexperienced to be in this fight, which showed Cilissa how desperate Setessa was becoming. She killed the minotaur and teamed up with Thora and Natasa. They fought hard, back to back, killing as they moved. Then Cilissa heard a hissing sound. She turned, and from the back, she saw Thora and Natasa become pale statues of stone. A Nyxborn gorgon had joined the fray. Shielding her eyes, Cilissa ran from Thora's petrified body, but she heard the gorgon following her, slithering quickly among the trees.

Cilissa noticed one of Karametra's pods, the biggest she had ever seen. It was the size of a boulder, its green glow harsh and insistent. She launched herself off the pod, her eyes closed, throwing her axe exactly where the gorgon's head would be. It hit its mark, and the gorgon collapsed to the ground, dead. Cilissa whirled, her arms and legs hitting their marks as piles of Nyxborn died around her, but she was wracking up cuts of her own, bleeding from arms and legs now. But then a massive minotaur spotted her and charged. She needed to fight with her mind. She did not know what opening the pod would do, but she had to try. So she positioned herself between the beast and the pod, and when the bullman brought his axe down in an overhead swing, Cilissa dodged and flipped away. The minotaur's axe hit the pod and cleaved it open from top to bottom.

A rush of sounds and green light filled the forest. The sound of a forest stream burbling, the sound of birds chirping in their mating dance, the sound of golden leaves swirling in the wind. The minotaur stood there, transfixed, as the green light framed its body. All the Nyxborn slowly dissolved into nothingness. Everywhere Cilissa looked, the Nyxborn were surrounded by a green nimbus that triggered their slow dissolution into oblivion. Within seconds, there was no Nyxborn in sight.

A tranquil silence followed the breaking of the pod, only to be replaced by the sounds of the dying. Cilissa was on her back, struggling to breathe, her leg throbbing with pain and bleeding heavily. She turned over to her front and crawled over to the broken pod, which was now a lifeless husk, a thick rind of fibrous wood. She put her hand on it, but there was no warmth now, no green glow, no feeling of the god or memories of her family. Still, the pod had saved her. She had to tell someone. There were still pods scattered throughout the forest; not many, but enough. She began crawling on the forest floor, but before she could speak to anyone, she passed out.

Months later, Cilissa looked out at the gathered circles of children in the clearing. They were so young. Had she ever been that young? Some of those faces looked openly scared, others made sure to display how tough and unafraid they were, still, others seemed in shock, unable to feel at all. Cilissa knew the looks on those faces well. She gazed up from the edge of the clearing, still finding marvel in the portal to Nyx above their heads. The stars continued to move and shimmer, patterns endlessly forming and dissolving and dancing.

She strode out to the center of the clearing, focusing on not limping, which she could do for short periods. She reached the center, and stood there, waiting. She saw the fear in the faces of the children, but she also saw hope and love. She let her voice be infused by the presence of Karametra, and it boomed out across the clearing, to bid the children welcome. They would be safe there. They were home.

Story appearances

Title	Author	Publishing date	Set	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Seasons in Setessa	Ken Troop	2014-03-26	Born of the Gods	Theros	Cilissa, Karametra, Thora, Niketa, Kelios, Natasa, Delia