Diary of Michel/Michelle Dumontier

[Early entries describe discomfort with their identity and not being accepted for their gender identity. around 5 years ago, they become the proprietor of the hanging garden as they are discovered to be the descendant of the last owner.] [Over the course of 5 years, Michel will describe the willow tree in the courtyard. He finds himself singing to it, and he believes it can hear him. He feels a presence within the tree, and some times he thinks he can hear it singing to him through the wind in its leaves. As the years progress, he believes that the tree is alive, slowly awakening] [Michel will comment on the presence of Col Emmet Bregman, who initially takes a liking to Michel. Michel initially appreciates the positive attention, but comes to realise they are not genuinely attracted to Bregman. When Michel attempts to pull away, he starts to pursue them more aggressively, and when it becomes clear they have no interest, Bregman becomes outwardly hostile.] [Entry, 1 year ago.] I met the Bride I was out in the village seeking donations when it happened. The residents of Shiare were not feeling generous, which is their right but it was getting late, so I was ready to head home when I heard a pained squeaking coming from an alleyway. It didn't occur to me at the time, but I did not recognise the alley, despite having been that way many times before. There was a small streak of blood that lead into this backstreet, and I followed it to a rather large rat, dragging it's broken leg still stuck in a trap. I've never been particularly frightened by "vermin", and I couldn't allow any of the worldsoul's creatures to come to harm in this way. It attempted to flee but its wounds kept it from making haste from me. There were rations in my pack so I placed some in front of it and sang softly to it. It seemed to calm enough for me to release the trap, and given that I know a bit of healing magic, I set and healed its wounds. Rather than flee, the rodent sat with me while I sang to it, but this is where I realised something was wrong. The walls that flanked me were unfamiliar, and it was far darker than it should be at that time in the afternoon. And I could have sworn that the floor was... breathing. As a sense of dread filled me I didn't notice the rat had left on its own accord. Being alone I couldn't held but notice the stones seemed almost soft, and with the almost imperceptible movement of the pavement I knew I had to leave immediately. I was almost out of this alien alley when I ran directly into someone. Slightly dazed, I realised I had collided with a goliath man in Boros armor, who was accompanied by two others. Despite my profuse and breathless apologies, I seemed to have aggravated this man beyond consolation. It was at that moment I realised these were lackeys under Bregman's command, as they started to start demanding money from me to make up for my indiscretion. I hadn't received any donations so I hadn't any coins on my person, but this didn't assuage them. I suspected this meeting was no accident, and that the bastard had sent them to shake me down. I did not realise it, but they had slowly been backing me further back into the alley. They recognised my Conclave vestments, speculating that maybe I had something back home that could make up for my empty pockets, and it was know I realised I had been cornered at the end of the alley. It was when they threatened my home I made the mistake of resisting, invoking the Conclave's retribution. This woman struck me unlike I have ever experienced. Down on the ground I should have been more aware of these aggressors but my attention had been shifted. As I laid on this stone that seemed to gently heave beneath my cheek, my eyes were fixated on a dark space below a mishappen dumpster. There were two pin pricks of glistening light within the darkness, and I knew they were observing me. I didn't notice the teifling or her gang advance on me, but as they did the pair of eyes in the dark were joined by another pair, and then another, and then dozens more. My concentration was broken as a boot was buried in my stomach, and it was then I could swear I could hear chittering through my winded heaving. When my vision returned, there were hundreds of shifting glistening eyes. The woman shouted something, and I looked up to see her reaching for a sword at her hip. I felt the ground shift below me, seeming to match my panicked gasping, but when she raised her sword above her head, the dumpster erupted a black ocean of squeaking and shrieking. My aggressor could no sooner turn to witness this mass of fur, tooth and wet eyes than it flowed around and over her and her allies. I have never before heard such a soul rending noise as what came out of those vaguely person shaped silhouettes, turning from shrill to gurgling, as red sprayed from these shapes, and oozed out from underneath. It felt like time slowed, but truly it could not have been more than moments before this flash of black fur settled to what must have been hundreds of rats resting on the bones of these three strangers. They did not advance on me, but they stood between me and the only exit, picking at what remain. As I sat there, a single rat separated from the swarm, approaching and stopping 5 feet from me. It looked at me as if it knew me, and I could not help but believe it was the rat I had healed only minutes before. It turned and made its way in the opposite direction, and the sea of rats parted, as if to assuage any suspicion I would have of their intention. I followed this creature, an impossible number of its kin trailing behind me, when rather than leaving the alley, it squeezed under a door against the wall that I had not noticed before. It was not locked, and when followed, it lead to a short staircase. The room that followed was dimly lit, disorderly and was very clearly lived in. And that's when I saw her, an elderly woman cooing to the blood soaked rodent that had brought me here. Though her eyes were milky white, she approached and greeted me warmly, as if doing so with an old friend. Then she said something that shocked me more than anything that had just happened. She said "there really aren't enough gentlemen like you, such a sweet boy." So I sat with her, at this grimy table, surrounded by detritus and strange artefacts. She served me cold tea and stale biscuits, and spoke about things I didn't really understand. I found my attention drawn by an innocuous scrap of paper with a silly little rhyme on it, but I stared at it for ages. When she noticed, she sprung up all excited. She picked it up and pressed it into my hands, saying it was an invitation, and a token of her thanks. She started sifting through her garbage, rambling about how her wedding ceremony had been postponed, but her flower girl was holding a a dinner rehearsal (though when she said this, she did not sound impressed). Eventually she went into a kitchen pantry, and closed the door behind her and all of a sudden I was alone and it was quiet. After a while I went to the pantry door, but when I opened it, it was empty. Confused and shaken, I stepped in to see if there was some secret passage she may have snuck through, but as I passed the threshold, the afternoon sun nearly blinded me. I turned back to the room I had been in to be faced with nothing but a brick wall. I was where I had heard the pained squeaking, but there was no alleyway before me. I returned home in a daze, and have not left my chambers for days. My hands have only just stopped shaking enough to put this to paper. What was that place? Who was that woman? How did she know...? Why do I find myself staring at the poem on this scrap of paper? [the following entries describe Michel not leaving the temple for quite some time. He finds himself wracked by nightmares, wandering through a dark city that seems to be watching him. One night, in his dreams, he actively explores the city rather than attempting to escape whatever was watching him. Though He doesn't remember the dream, when he awoke, he had scrawled the note about "the rats, snakes, and sheep". After this, his dreams no longer scare him, but draw him in deeper.] [the following entries detail meeting women while he is out evangelising, who seem more interested in him than what the conclave preaches. They start visiting the garden more and more regularly and Michel recognises that they visited the garden before his encounter with the Bride. They seem supportive, and when he eventually shares his dreams, they seem to recognise his experience. Over months, he finds himself embroiled in this cult, as they take advantage of his trauma and paranoia. The cult wishes to rebuild Ravnica in a new image, bridging the gap between artifice and nature. Their teachings reinforce the importance of sacrifice, as well as comparative amoral brutality of nature vs the malicious brutality of people.] [as the months progress, the cult seems to take over the garden, closing it to the public. They talk of Michelle becoming a high priestess, presenting her with trinkets and charms. The cultists, who identify themselves as the Brairheart Sisterhood, start erecting statues of their leader, who Michel never meets in person, referred to only as Lady Briarheart. He does however meet a High Priestess by the name of Brianna Ashworth, who regards Michel's connection to the magic of nature highly. Michelle notices the back of the temple is locked, and she is no longer allowed into that part of her own property. Women from around the city are brought to the garden, and Michelle notes that they get only the most surface level exposure to the organisations principles. Sometimes she thinks she hears or see people sneaking into the back room in the late hours of the night, or whispering to the statues when they think no one is listening.] [He notices that some of the cult members don't respect him, and seem to hold some contempt for him. They seem irrate that someone with as short a membership would become a high priestess so soon, despite not being one yet. All throughout this, Michel realises that the presence within the tree is a dryad spirit, attempting to manifest, and forming a deep connection with Michel, gradually forming in their dreams. Michel has become aware of the flora of the garden thriving in a way they had never seen, with the sisters introducing all manner of unfamiliar plants to the garden. There are further notes referencing dreams of another, strange city.] [After confiding in one of the statues about their doubts about whether they are deserving of such a position within the coven, Michel is surprised when it responds to him. The feminine statue assures him that he is an integral part in helping the sisters birthing the city anew, and that Michel was very special, and their gifts would make them one of its first Caretakers.] [Final Entry. Michel is to be receive their final initiation as a High Priestess. Those remaining women they have amassed are to be members of her own coven, a process that will make them all "one family." Potential members seemed to go as easily as they came, with the coven assuring that this new family simply didn't suit them, and they left on their own accord. This culmination is to be done in a ritual performed with all Michel's subordinate sisters present, and conducted by a significant number of the more experienced sisters. At the centre of this ritual is the drawing of the dryad spirit into the tree, and by extension, into the world. Michel is extremely anxious, as all of the rites emphasise their feminity, and membership within the sisterhood, with Michel feeling that they are lying to the coven, but at the same time they are extremely excited to be so close to the manifestation of a dryad, an event otherwise unheard of.] .

Visions of the Creeping Necropolis