#Lore24 – Entry #223 – Helica Month #11 – The Many Amaranths of Helica
Excerpt from the Journals of Azita Gaji, Explorer of Helica, Seeker of Knowledge, Blessed of Saghirah
Once I had managed to set up my lantern, I began clearing the accumulated dust and dirt of a few hundred years from the walls of the chamber. Beneath them lay carved murals, most still with their brilliant paints still visible, though many had suffered cracks and collapsed sections due to the shifting of the earth around them. I had no way of knowing for sure, but I got the sense that these were perhaps ancient even in the heyday of Grad Artanais.
The chamber was generally circular in shape but was composed of twenty-four walls set at slight angles to one another to form the angled circle. The murals themselves were each about three-feet wide and as tall as the chamber itself, about twelve feet, and covered twenty-two of the walls, the last two being reserved for the entrance I had used, and another which was collapsed after a half-dozen feet.
The first of the murals I examined were of fantastic creatures at once familiar and strange, bearing features of the wildlife of Helica, but grander, more exotic, and possessed of an intelligent countenance. It was when I laid my eyes upon the foxlike figure of the Amaranth Glacia within an otherworldly snow-covered forest that I realized what these murals were. Sure enough, as I progressed, I discovered images of the great birdlike Makani amongst the clouds, Cinza the fire dragon in his volcanic realm, and Kayalik the equine Amaranth of earth in a rocky valley. Then there was Saghirah in her winged feline form, imperious upon her throne, above her temple in a great desert, and Nur-Atahk, the majestic, winged serpent guardian of the holy city of Tyraguard. And yet, that was the entirety of the Amaranths I recognized, a mere six of the twenty-two!
What were the names of these other Amaranths, and why were they not revered to this day? Why were some of them more human in appearance than others? Were they perhaps no longer living or unable to exist upon Helica? Had they been destroyed at some time during the past, perhaps during the first battles with the Transgressor? Had these Amaranths been forgotten to time? Or had the church tried to hide their existence like they had attempted with Saghirah? Had they too had representations in the temple complex in Grad Artanais that had been buried and lost? So many questions flooded through my mind then. This had to have been what Saghirah had wanted me to learn on Ukejama!
Though I didn’t have names to go along with most, I hastily began sketching the murals to the best of may abilities, making sure to include as much detail as I could manage, especially the symbols and ancient lettering I was not familiar with, for I would surely be using these as a guide for my future research. There was so much yet to learn, so much that had been lost of Helica’s history that I may never know, but Saghirah willing, with her blessing, maybe I will uncover those lost truths, or at least, the most important of those truths.