Unfreezing fountain of Diehali Geographic Location in Arndsts | World Anvil

Unfreezing fountain of Diehali

Diehali
Two explorers (Leviathan Crusher and Clara ... Xanda were climbing the sheer side of J3 mountain. With their miptun hovering behind them, carrying their heavier equipment, food, and her boot jets carving furrows into the snow and ice whenever she hovered over a flatter surface.
  "Why did they put the monument there? It can't be that the whole mountain is holy..."   "They argue it is, but the part that is holy is here..." They had reached the ledge above the monument, currently occupied only by bureaucrats and spies, who had been chosen for the most secret of projects.   "What's that?"   "The perpetual, unfreezing fountain of Diehali."   "And this is holy because?"   "In this holy place of Air, where the wind blows and suffers not a leave unattended, Water and Fire stake a claim, with Earth staying wisely out of the argument. Water claims the right to exist unfrozen, and Fire helps, that water is geothermal in origin."   "But that... Wait, the water is falling into that pond?"   "Yes, I do not recommend dipping your toes however, the thermal gradients are unpredictable, you could cook them, or suffer hypothermia."   "What happens to the pond?"  
Diehali, the story set straight
I am Diehali, I am the spirit of the fountain, the Elements you serve have charged me with watching this holy place, and to educate those worthy, onto its purpose. Boomed a voice in their heads.   "Oh, oh, a Story!" quipped Levi.   Your interpretation has the wrong actors, Air is not the one uninvolved here. In the beforetimes, before the living plants and the teeming of the sea, the Elements were bored, and often chose one of my kind, a Spirit, and would bet on our success in various forms of tests they would devise. Chomolungma was such a spirit, and she was a mighty scion of the Earth's whims, often called to reflow the primordial magma that existed then, before it solidified enough to allow water that was not steam. She raced mightily, and her works caused the mighty spur of the earth, Chomolungma, named after her, to rise, in what is now Taibit to your peoples. There was much praise on this work, but other spirits said that it was easy, because they had made it so vast, that any amount of magma that vast would sustain itself. Earth disagreed, but three of the other elements argued this view, and for once, the Void, that newest of Elements, spoke. It would be fair if you would create another spur of the earth that high, but half as wide. Then all would know this is prowess, not the fundamental nature of our creation. Earth grumbled, but finally conceded the point, and instructed Chomolungma to make another Spur, but Chomolungma objected, saying that this was too narrow, and would collapse, and cause harmful currents in the magma flow. Earth overruled her, and she departed to where we now stand, and started lifting a spur of magma from the primordial sea. The Elements of Air, Water and Fire were jealous, such a success would give Earth much credit and prestige in their complicated otherworldly games. However, they could not, under their rules, interfere, with the magma itself. Fire decided, however, to alter the amount of heat available to Chomolungma, while Water sent this spring, to appear from nothing, into a specific point of mystical consequence, which, after uncountable aeons, became this stream, this grove, this very spot. Air decided to do nothing at first, then sent the wind you feel, well those of you not encased in metal, on your faces. But Chomolungma was mighty, it was said that when void chose its first representatives, he was tempted to steal Chomolungma from Earth, but instead decided to empower the Asmodeans you know as Feral and Gallant.
"Feral? Gallant?"   "Only Priests and the highest levels of Priestesses know those names, Levi, I'm not surprised you didn't know of them before."   "I've heard this story, but Chomolungma was never named..."   "Well, this Spirit was there, wasn't it?"  
Diehali, or the great quake
I was not, I was near the surface, tending the Great Tunnel Reef of Karkloom, hundreds of leagues away from here.   "Why is this named Diehali, then?"   Because, I am named Diehali, I make this fountain flow, at the request of Water, that the hubris of games taking attention and care away from more important matters, never be forgotten. I make this fountain flow precisely where Water sent the flow of Water that long ago distabilized the magma, and sent it cracking info four directions, four lances of hot death, sure to send quakes and other disasters over the forming planet.   "But we're here?"   You are, Earth saw the disaster, and moved continents, that's your word for them, to absorb the shock of the quake, the plan of the elements was delayed for hundreds of thousands of years, but the spurs bounced off the magma, and reformed, becoming this mountain, that you know as Mount J3. The mystical essences of Fire and Air were caught and Water, which had anticipated this contingency, merged with them, creating this fountain, and creating a mystical beacon I could not ignore, not even from the other side of the planet, to come here, and tend it.   The titanic mystical energies released had other impacts, the Elements state, unequivocally, that this is what created life, as you know it, on Arnd, and whatever magics you cast that are not at their direction, are trapped remnants of this event.   "What happened to Chomolungma?"   She is trapped, underneath the spur, prisoner of her creation. If she escaped, or if anyone tried to rename the mountain to any name not hers, or rename the mountain that bears her name, many of my kind fear she'd try to destroy all of Arnd in her fury.   "Did she have any friends, to mourn her?"   We spirits are what you call sisters, except for those of the Void, who are Brothers, it's no coincidence that you have more priestesses than priests, it is in imitation of our numbers.   "So, your sister is trapped underneath this rock?"   Yes, and I dare not try to release her, even if I could.   "Don't lie, it might take you a long time, but water can grind the hardest rock, given enough time..."   Perhaps, but I dare not even try. I wouldn't recognize her, once she was free, it has been too long...
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