Valeriya

[Valeriya]

Valeriya, Eye of the Khlysty

Глаз Христы


Prophet: Scryer

Age: 26 (estimate; tracking the passage of time is accomplished with a water clock in the temple).

Appearance: Vale is short, about 5'2" and slender. She has a muscular frame suited to a hard and physical existence. Everything done in the Underground is done by hand. Their technology is consistent with turn of the 19th century as they have been completely sealed away from the outside world Above. She has thick black hair often decorated with stones or braids. Her skin is translucent and pale. Her eyes a silvery grayish-green. She has many thin scars cross-crossing her back. Unlike the other Khylsty, who wear monk's robes, she wears old gowns that once belonged to the Tsarina Alexandra along with other imperial treasures.

Psychological: Vale is a product of her blood. She is descended from Rasputin, also a Seer, as he is God incarnate. Each woman in the blood gains the Sight, and one after the other across the generations, become The Eye, leader of the Khylsty. Theirs is a hard life. When they were driven into hiding after the Revolution, they plunged far below the surface, constantly burrowing further like worms. Like a hellish Barrier, monsters roam above. The priests go out in packs to hunt them as food, and despite their ferocity, it takes two or three working together to kill even a single oni. But that oni can feed ten people for a month. It takes many hunts to keep the Khylsty from starvation, and it was a hard lesson to learn.

She was Awoken at the age of 21 when the previous Eye died in the hunt. Valeriya repented of her many sins, including the murder of her predecessor (her mother), cannibalism, and lewd thoughts. Mortification of the flesh followed with a thousand lashes in self-flagellation. Near death, she Awoke, and rose again. She was crowned The Eye in the temple room and has ruled ever since.

Her powers are linked to scrying. She must peer into objects while entranced to see her visions. This usually involves a crystal ball that once belonged to Rasputin himself. The crystals on her necklace are also useful. Sometimes she sees things in firelight or cauldron water. Her visions show her the Above, a world she can barely describe (try describing the sky to someone that's never seen it). She also sees the face of Rasputin reborn although she does not know if she views the present or the future.

Like other Eyes, she carves the things she sees upon the walls of their lairs. Including in the temple and throne room.

As she has never known carnal touch, she feels isolated from other Khylsty. She yearns for love and to go Above.

Due to inbreeding and cannibalism, she is slightly insane.

Biography:

The Eye sat upon her throne, arm dangling over the wooden slab, one leg kicked across the other. The black lace of her dress was torn in places, mended together hundreds of times so that it was more like a disorganized spider web rather than the intricate piece of art it originally was. Black leather cords bound the corset tight to her chest, pushing her bosom high, near to spilling out the top. She toyed with the cord as she watched the ritual performed before her. Leather was a commodity in their world. She slaughtered the beast whose skin was stretched tight across the tanning drums. Its fur lined her wrists, a soft, black sheen that she often pet fondly. A good kill, she thought of it often. The knife she used, a wicked stiletto, was strapped to her thigh, accessible by the slit ripping up one leg. She kicked her foot, tapping her heel against the throne, and realized she'd been tapping along with the drums. Music was another luxury to their world, to be indulged in during the ritual only. The gongs of metal, beaten with carved bones in metallic clashes pounded like heart beats, but it was the lifting of voices that she enjoyed most. Although the Eye would never admit to such a sin as joy. No more. Once, in her foolishness of sinful youth, she would have relished it, but she was Awakened now, purified of sin. Only in such repentance does The Eye see All.

A dozen people sat in a circle beneath her throne in the Great Chamber. This was their largest and grandest tomb, enhanced over the past one hundred and forty years by previous Eyes. She herself had contributed to a portion of the chamber with drawings of Above. The things she saw were etched into the stone walls forever, clawed into the foundations of the earth itself. Her pale, silvery gaze flicked to her contribution to the prophecies. Five years ago, when she became The Eye, at the age of twenty-one, she cragged her part of the tale of the coming Reincarnated. His tale was woven all around the room, beginning on the far left of the chamber. In that incarnation, his face and name were known by all with his long bushy hair, hawkish nose, slender cheeks and piercing blue eyes. In that first image, carved by the First Eye, his face was known by those who saw him in person. His name, Grigori Rasputin, the reincarnated, the God in man's flesh. The rebirth of God in Nazareth was not an isolated event, but rather occured repeatedly over the milennia. One hundred and ten years ago, Rasputin, as mortal God, was finally killed after surviving stabbing, poisoning, and mutilation. He would return to them, however. In a new body and new flesh. Once he arrived, he would need to be Awoken as they all did, but once repented of sins, he would be their savior. He would lead them Above, and rule all, or all would perish. The Eye waited for his return. He was coming. That was her contribution to the world. She knew his face as well as she knew Rasputin's. He had the same hawkish nose, same slender cheeks, same piercing blue eyes like twin flames that stabbed her soul.

Her fingers dropped the cording across her corset and instead lifted a necklace up to her eyes. It hung on a gold chain, a wooden phallus with two crystal testes attached at the base. Holding the crystal before her eyes, her own pale gaze narrowed as she peered into the many facets. Torchlight danced within the crystal, and buried deep in the rainbows scattered in reflection, she saw the twin blue eyes looking back at her. "I see you,"
she whispered to them. "The Eye sees all."
Her lips twisted with hunger and she dropped the phallus back to her chest. The necklace was not the real phallus of Rasputin, of course. That was incased within a glass jar, fixed with formaldehyde, and sitting on the alter in the main temple. Only the Eye and a few others were allowed to touch the jar, but all knelt before it when they Awoke.

As though her thoughts betrayed her, the men of the ritual stood from their half of the circle as the pool in the center began to boil and steam. They tore their white robes and her heart began to beat harder as she watched. Scents filled the room, tickling the inside of her nose as much as theirs, and the ecstasy brushed her mind of all thought. She let her head rest against the throne, mouth slack, eyes heavy. The six men yelled from within their dreamy trances. The six women answered, tearing their white robes as the men did. The Eye pushed herself to stand, her legs were weak, her head heavy. The fires flamed bright, the smoke pooled on the ceiling.

"Radenyi!"
She proclaimed and collapsed upon the throne. She was vaguely aware of the bodies entwining themselves before her. Someday, she would partake in Radenyi as well. Someday, when Rasputin returned, the reincarnated, the reborn. Just before she fell to blissful slumber, her gaze returned to his carving on the wall. He would take her Above. Yes, she would see for herself finally what the Eye saw.

She fell asleep as his face filled her dreams.