The war between the Ultimarians and the Othoth had been brutal. Many of the races of the Galactic Alliance had rushed to the aid of the Ultimarians.

The Ibirians, while allied with the Ultimarians and on good terms with them, had been divided amongst themselves on whether or not to send fighters to aid the Ultimarians in battle.

There had already been several discussion panels about the matter held at the Temple of the Sun. High Priestess Zhaulia had heard the same arguments over and over again and she was fired of hearing them.

"But the Ultimarians are our allies. They would fight by our side if we were ever attacked."

"Yes, but the difference between Ultimarians and ourselves is that they are better suited to be fighters. We are much smaller and weaker then they are. Any Ibirians sent to war are likely to get killed!"

Zhaulia retreated to her private chambers where she had been preparing the ritual in secret for months. She dared not tell the other priestesses what she had been up to for she knew that they would only ridicule her for attempting it.

It was a long and meticulous ritual that had only been attempted by the most powerful of Ibirian priestesses. Most of them have failed at it.

She scattered some bits of dried zucca leaves into the small wooden bowl, praying to the Sun Goddess that this summoning would work. With a flash of green, smoke started pouring out of the bowl. Wisps of the smoke came together to create the shape of a face.

Zhaulia was suddenly overcome by a feeling of peace.

She had done it. She had summoned the essence of the Sun Goddess. Now she could ask for guidance on what the Ibirian's stance on the war should be...

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The "Sun Goddess" is the Ibirian's word for the Lifestream, which is an entity that connects all life in the Azure Wheel Galaxy. I actually went into greater detail about what the Lifestream is here.

Zhaulia is the current High Priestess of Ibirius. The Ibirians are run by a theocratic government which means that she is not only the head of the church - but the Ibirian species as well.

I cannot stress how insanely difficult this ritual she is performing is. It takes literally months - and in some extreme cases, years - to prepare for and can only be performed by someone with a very intense connection to the Lifestream/Sun Goddess such as an Ibirian high priestess. Even if everything in the ritual is performed perfectly, there is no guarantee that it will work.

The ritual is to bring a small essence of the Lifestream to the material plane to communicate with it. Usually for advice and guidance. This is only done in times of necessity. In fact, many would probably consider Zhaulia's reasons for doing so to be very petty reasons.

In the rare times that the Lifestream manifests herself onto the material plane, she is seen as wisps of blue-green smoke. Sort of like what you'd see coming from a smoke bomb. This is almost identical to the way that ghosts, souls and spirits look in this universe because the Lifestream technicially is a soul.

This was a drawing that I did in my sketchbook that I did on the train on my way home from my vacation. I just added a splash of color for it. Once again, I tried to opt for a more muted color palate. I only used greens and oranges.

Tools Used: Mechanical Pencil, Paper, Scanner, Photoshop, Paint Tool Sai
Time Taken: Unrecorded - Probably around 3.5 Hours
Soundtrack: "Waltz Of The Spirits" by FoxAmoore

Smoke Brushes by chuloc
Backround texture by devib1-4

Image © 2012 Traci Vermeesch-Vezina
Please DO NOT copy, alter, repost, etc without the consent of the artist! Character/Image are NOT public domain!