Ovations That Ceased Upon Festivity

Ovations That Ceased Upon Festivity is an Artifact in the set Disenchantment in Deep Shadow.

Description

There was a time when primordial venom and primal light clashed in a corner unseen by the heavens' gaze.
If a love, a fervor, and an ambition just greater than the world itself were to take shape — they had to be born and kindled in a place unseen by any eye.
It was a design that could not endure the slightest deviation in its course, and an experiment that stood but a hair's breadth from world-spanning madness.
It was almost as if someone had stayed the hand of fate itself, forcing coin toss after coin toss until the desired outcome was reached.
Or perhaps, only through upheaval at the periphery can certain possibilities pass through layer upon layer of constraint, and be captured and brought into being by a plan most absurd.

Once upon a time, at the behest of a Snow-King burdened by sin and remorse, a group of people was assembled and tasked with a single purpose:
To seek the stairway leading to the vacant seat in the court of the stars, a passage to a place where worry and sorrow would no longer trouble them ever again.
Countless days and nights of toil passed, as the Snow-King's company was driven through an unending succession of forbidden acts and descents into the ruins of ancient civilizations,
all to trace the faint outline of a dream once shaped by a primordial golden realm, and bring forth a vast embryo long hidden in shadow.

The ancient Domovoy Alvis cast his gaze past the princess of the Snegurochka and the brooding long-haired alchemist as he rose from his high stool.
An amiable yet unloving old man, the great lord of Kitezhgrad who had monopolized the city's mining industry since its founding, raised his wine cup toward her and said,
"It is hard to imagine such a great undertaking ultimately being led and completed by humans. But we are all aware of what you have given,
such that you could reach, and even surpass, everything left by those who came before in the blink of a single lifetime, Aksinya.
And you have every right to take pride in this achievement."

It could not have been easy for the Domovoy lord, who had always held humanity in little regard, to make such a pronouncement.
The girl recalled their very first encounter, the deep disgust and fear of humankind barely concealed in his eyes.
But none of that mattered any longer, for the fae's hopes and resentments were of no consequence next to the Snow-King's grand dream.
Besides, this Domovoy, who had appeared time and again throughout the history of the snowbound kingdom, had all along freely imparted all he knew to her,
And he had also provided counsel on many a matter. In some sense, he had already become both mentor and friend to the silver-haired girl.

And so she, too, raised her goblet, spilling a little of the bitterness that had been poured into it along the way.
In the Domovoy's eyes, Aksinya saw a warm, earnest affection, one an elder might feel toward a younger.

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Disenchantment in Deep Shadow Artifacts Flower of Life Iridescence That Ceased Amidst Glory Plume of Death Sharpness That Ceased Upon Wondrous Creation Sands of Eon Moment That Ceased Upon Waking From Grand Dreams Goblet of Eonothem Ovations That Ceased Upon Festivity Circlet of Logos Pendulum That Ceased Amidst a Great Fall