The Comet

The Comet
Origin	God-from-Light
Titles	The Harbinger
Aspects
Owner(s)	Maltramac

The Comet (The Harbinger) is the Tenth Hour of the Fansus, created by Maltramac. Her aspects are Edge and Lantern in decreasing order of importance. The Comet was once the Hour called Dragonfly, sister to The Solemn Gravedigger, but under the gaze of The Usurper Sun the Dragonfly ascended into the Glory - and what returned was the Comet.

Her tarot card is The Wheel of Fortune.

History

The Dragonfly arose from Blood - not from a singular sacrifice but in response to half-formed prayers of the wounded and the terrified, prayers that asked not for salvation - it was far too late for salvation - but at least for a reason for what happened to them, for something that would give meaning to the world's impersonal, uncaring cruelty.

Thus, the Dragonfly and the Beetle were siblings, both born from the world's cruelty and the fledgling mankind's need to cope with it. Perhaps, in her case, it would have been better if that need had remained unanswered. The Dragonfly was a cruel Hour, taking delight in the hunt, in the torment of the weak, in the anguished cries of the world below.

One thing can be said in favor of the Dragonfly however: she tolerated no competition in inflicting suffering on lesser creatures, thinking herself the apex predator of the House. Most prominently, this principle brought her into conflict with the Ten Suns, Names of The Tenfold. In the events that lead to their downfall and the rise of The Stillborn, the Dragonfly fought at Abbess Sunset's side.

Description

Appearance

The Dragonfly typically took the shape of a titanic version of her namesake insect, an unrivalled hunter soaring above the Wood, and before the murders of the Gods-from-Stone - in the skies of the Wake as well. With few even among the Hours that could hope to match her speed and strength, she pursued her prey uncontested. Although capable of tearing a misfortunate occultist in half with a single snap of her jaws, she much preferred to toy with her prey, swooping down to wound, not kill, with cruel precision.

When in need of a form more suited to communicating and interacting with mortals, the Dragonfly would adopt an almost humanlike guise, though one that nobody would mistake for a human. Standing over three meters tall, a fierce, four-armed warrior with skin the color of the midnight sky, eyes burning red with hunger and wrath, dressed only in the severed skulls and limbs of her prey.

The Comet retains much of the appearance of the Hour she once was - save for one striking change. Her body is covered in crystalline growths protruding from deep within the flesh of the Hour, which spread, move and recede seemingly on their own, pulsating from within with the pure Glory-light that is the absence of all colors. Some claim these are part of the Comet, an extension of her will; others - that it is an independent entity bestowed upon the Hour by the Glory itself; and others still - that the crystal is the true body of the Comet, wearing the husk of what was once the Dragonfly like a hermit crab wears a shell.