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Post by Stage on Jan 13, 2019 21:29:07 GMT
The chill of night clawed at the windows of a small tavern in the Migman fishing town of Ness: the Free Fish. It was only fought off by the roar of the large fireplace that stood in the center of the inn and restaurant, rumbling like an angry idol devoid of its worshipers. Only one customer sought the warm of the fire: a varul, a varul unlike any other. He was as tall as an elephant and had to weigh as much as a moose, his arms as thick as tree trunks and his chest bigger than a shipping barrel. The inn had not been empty before his arrival. Upon entering, the rest of the patrons had found excuses to leave or outright fled. Only the owner, a man of huge stature in his own right with a trio of scars across his brow that told of intimate familiarity with the might of a varul, had stood his ground and waved him to a seat. They had run not only because this was a varul, not only because it was the biggest varul any of them had seen, but because they knew who this varul was.
This was Mattuger, the van of the varuls. A mortal god. A god who killed gods.
And he was fiddling with a jeweled necklace while awaiting a date.
The god sighed. He did not know how he allowed himself to be talked into this. He had no real interest, but his people had seemed concerned for him. They had insisted he needed something to get his mind off his many worries, and an impetuous tak named Sassa had taken matters into her own hands and recruited a southern acquaintance to find him a partner. She had even ventured into Sund to get him this trinket, a magical object that would allow him to understand and speak any tongue. He refused to learn any languages from outside of Noraage, and had planned to used this as an excuse out of this, but the girl had outmaneuvered him.
She was a good, smart child. He was exceedingly fond of her.
He only hoped her judgement was sound, because she had demanded final say on who he saw tonight.
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Post by Executus Gira on Jan 13, 2019 23:02:56 GMT
The door to the Free Fish swung open, and the arrival who strode on in was as much like Mattuger as she was different. Unlike the elephant sized varul, she appeared to be human, a very small human at that, less than half his height. She wore a crimson black dress, and in her hand was a stone staff covered in vines. Her light brown eyes immediately were fixed upon the varul, and she walked toward him.
"I was told there would be a god here waiting for me." She said. She took a seat next to the massive varul, and let one of the vines that grew along her body scoot her in. " I assume that would be you."
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Post by Stage on Jan 13, 2019 23:22:34 GMT
Though the massive varul’s sole remaining eye told him this was a human child, his nose informed him otherwise. The creature before him was ancient, probably even more so than him. She smelled as if she was a living piece of the earth. She was no human. She might not even be moral.
“I am Mattuger,” rumbled the wolf-man, his voice deep and powerful as distance thunder. “‘God’ is the closest thing to my nature there is in this tongue. I am first the of my race and the last to be touched by time.”
A bronze eye bored into the tiny creature.
“What are you?” Mattuger asked directly.
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Post by Executus Gira on Jan 13, 2019 23:41:11 GMT
"I am Lavidana." The girl responded. In contrast, her voice was like that of a ten year old, yet there was still an edge of maturity and age in her voice that betrayed her appearance. "I am a god, not one from this world, but from another. I am my own race, but this form is that of humanity. I am the goddess of the earth and flora, created by the Supreme Being to govern over those elements. I am among the first of my kind, and among the last."
She took a deep breath. "Not that I want to be the last of my kind..."
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Post by Stage on Jan 14, 2019 0:02:09 GMT
"Your race," grumbled the giant, voice betraying no sympathy. "Were they close-knit?"
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Post by Executus Gira on Jan 14, 2019 0:28:20 GMT
Lavidana looked away. "In a manner of speaking, yes. We were all made by the Creator, the Supreme Being, as one big family. Each of us governing over an aspect of creation. It was simple times back then... before an abomination of darkness came and ruined it, and caused us gods to decay and wither."
She then looked over at the varul. "And what of you? Are you the only god of your world?"
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Post by Stage on Jan 14, 2019 0:55:04 GMT
Mattuger's huge head shook. "No. There are many others, each the oldest of their race. Though there are less now than there once were. We too are only ageless, not deathless."
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Post by Executus Gira on Jan 14, 2019 1:04:28 GMT
"I see."
Lavidana shifted her position. " My brothers and sisters thought they were immortal, that nothing could kill them... The dark abomination proved us wrong. Since then, others of us have fallen to greed, corruption, killed by either each other, or by humans who blamed us for the world being thrown into turmoil. Even when we tried to fix it, they still blamed us, and tried to kill us."
Her fist clenched tight. " I made their world fertile. I helped make the planets grow, rejuvenate the earth after a centuries long drought, gave them the foundations needed to rebuild themselves into an empire... and all I got was them trying to kill me and my brother!I don't know what the Creator saw special in humanity, but I hate them, them and anyone like them. Anyone who defies the gods, and tries to usurp and defile them, can burn in hell for all I care."
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Post by Stage on Jan 14, 2019 1:38:17 GMT
"Humans are scum," Mattuger proclaimed loudly, not caring that the tavern owner was within earshot. "My people too have been menaced by them. All the new races have. We are children of the old races, yet they look down on us. My fellow gods did nothing, so I took matters into my own hands."
The enormous wolf-man drew a black blade from his waist: a weapon of stone that bore the pattern of a long-dead fern and created a tangible pressure, a tension deep in Lavidana's chest. The pressure pulsed like the breath of a living being.
"I foraged a knife," explained the varul. "A knife to kill gods. In a way, a god itself. I hunted the old gods, as well as any new god who tried to interfere with my mission."
Mattuger sighed and sheathed the knife, the god-killer. "It lead to nothing but the loss of my eye though, so I lead my people here. Only humans followed."
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Post by Executus Gira on Jan 14, 2019 1:53:41 GMT
Lavidana's face soured. "I... I know that all too well. In my case... by the time humans had become so bad... the only gods left were me and my brother. The Creator had been murdered long ago by his own angels, and the other gods, my siblings..."
She shook her head. " And there was sabotage among our own ranks. Some gods were prospering from mankind waging war against each other and against other creatures, so we were kept in an illusion, a dream state, so we couldn't interfere as they profited from the destruction of the world. They were punished when their actions were found out, but by then, it was too late. The world was already in a desolate state, I helped to fix it, and... it was just me and my brother as the sole survivors, in a world that had forsaken and spat at us, a world groomed by devils and dementers to rule themselves..."
She rubbed her forehead. "I'm sorry. I doubt you wanted to come here to share woe-stories."
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Post by Stage on Jan 14, 2019 2:02:04 GMT
"No," Mattuger declared decisively. "To share a past of human harassment and godly in-fighting is... refreshing. I knew not that there were others who have gone through the same as I."
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Post by Executus Gira on Jan 14, 2019 2:16:11 GMT
Lavidana smiled. "I had a feeling ever since I realized there were other worlds. I only learned that when..when a non human friend of mine wanted to find a different place to start over. I'm not sure how she did it, but she had a way to take us to a different world, and there we tried to start over, in a walled city in a land surrounded by monsters."
Her eyes darkened, and gnawed on the inside of her lower lip. " It was supposed to be a fresh start, but... I was too angry to let go of the past. Let go of what humans had done, and my hatred for them. So... One of my friend's friends sterilized the city's population. If anyone wanted to have kids, they needed to ask the government, which I was a high ranking official of. In a way, I was using them as a proxy, because the humans of my world had gone beyond my capability to get revenge on... and I didn't care. I didn't care what the motives for the sterilization were, or the larger picture... just that I was getting the revenge I desired, and it felt good, to be respected and feared by humans again, to have them look at me and obey my orders, even in a technological world."
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Post by Stage on Jan 14, 2019 2:42:13 GMT
The varul snorted dismissively, which sounded like a muffled gunshot due to his size. "Good. There are already too many humans. I would gladly take their ability to breed if I could. They hunt my people. Take their tails as trophies. They deserve what happens to them."
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Post by Executus Gira on Jan 14, 2019 22:40:54 GMT
"They do, they do deserve that, and worse." Lavidana admitted. " But, that's not how my brother sees it. Despite being the God of Death, he thinks humans don't deserve that. Punishment yes, but nothing that harsh. When he learned of what I had done, he was shocked and horrified. 'We are meant to be guides and role models, parents to the world of mortals, not executioners and tyrants. If mankind errs, that is our fault because we didn't do our job properly. Do you blame a child for making a fundamental mistake, or their parent for not teaching them right and wrong?', that is what he told me."
She tugged at her own hair. "Auuugh! The overforgiving oaf! I know where he's coming from and I understand it, but it still pisses me off! I can't even get what I want because of this stupid moral conundrum! They're stupid, selfish, arrogant, and hateful to anything that isn't them, and even themselves, but... but..." She deflated, fistfuls of torn hair in her hands. " It really is our fault. We weren't there to be their role models. we were too busy dealing with ourselves and our own problems to deal with the rebellious humans until it was too late. And now, we reaped what we sowed. Goddamnit."
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Post by Stage on Jan 14, 2019 23:24:12 GMT
"Your brother is blinded by optimism," Mattuger growled. "The humans of my world too have a shepherd, the god Magparker, but she is flippant. The mother of all humans, yet she refuses to guide them. They are rotten from the roots. They cannot be recuperated, only weeded from the earth. Only a fool would pity a plague."
The great varul sighed. "I understand what it is like to see someone you care for seduced by humanity though. There is a girl, a young girl named Ragnhild, who denies her brothers and sisters. She is strong, smart, but her mind was tainted by an old fool. He poisoned her thoughts with sweet words, so now she think she does not need her siblings. When the fool was gone, I tried to reach her, but there was a... a little vermin who kept her on her leash."
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Post by Executus Gira on Jan 16, 2019 20:13:27 GMT
"You're right... He is blinded by optimism." Lavidana admitted. The words were poison in her mouth, but she endured it. "Why he is, I do not know. Even after everything he's been through, the hardships he's had to endure with everyone else and by himself... he still believes the best of humanity, that they can do right if lead properly... and I just cannot see it."
"I'm sorry about... about the girl you care for. It must be infuriating, enraging, to see them turned against you. It must make you think at times, if it's really them that's the problem, or you. That's how I feel at times with how me and my brother see things. Maybe... maybe I'm the one who's mind has been poisoned by outside influences..."
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Post by Stage on Jan 16, 2019 23:12:51 GMT
"Nonsense," Mattuger boomed. "You sound like the only one with any sense. I hope not all of your siblings are so foolish as your brother."
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Post by Executus Gira on Jan 18, 2019 0:01:30 GMT
"Funny you should think that.." Lavidana took a sip out of the glass of water infront of her. "Because while he and I disagree on this, he is the most sane and reasonable of my living siblings. Well... technically living, but they have long split from the family. The only one that hasn't is a child in heart and mind, but not in body... the opposite of me, you could say. She likes humans, but has a very immature look on the world around her."
She took another sip, a longer one this time. " The others, the ones who were prospering from mankind waging war and wanted to keep those wars going, are actively malicious and insane. The God of Fire and Ice, someone who I had trusted as the voice of wisdom among my family, is one of them, along with the God of Destruction and the God of Darkness. Their viewpoint is the complete opposite of my brother's, and they believe that it isn't just humanity that is the problem, but free will itself, the ability to make a choice and do what you want. They killed the other gods, and tried to recreate reality in order to eradicate free will, so all life would only follow the exact orders of the gods..."
She looked over at Mattuger. "My brother... he refused to allow that to happen, and he fought against them... That clash is what brought me here to this world, and I have no idea what became of my brother..."
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Post by Stage on Jan 18, 2019 1:33:07 GMT
Mattuger curled his lips back in a grimace, revealing huge, pearly fangs, each like an overturned iceberg under moonlight. "They sound like the old gods. These bodies of ours cannot be touched by time, but our minds are not so impervious. The gods older than I have become unhinged. They are paranoid. Misfocused. Some obsess over pointless things, like the dead and ancient past. Others pursue their fleeting urges at the expense of their people. Many of them were easy to slay in this state. So easy for some, it was if they wished for death. I wonder if the last rational parts of them wanted to die."
The enormous varul straightened up, and a silver sheen flashed across his fur for the briefest of moments. The building seemed to give a single shiver under the power, the pressure, of the silvery glow.
"Even the weakest god should put up a fearsome fight," Mattuger growled.
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Post by Executus Gira on Jan 18, 2019 3:08:13 GMT
The tone in Matterug's voice as he talked of the old gods made the back of Lavidana's skin crawl. While his reasons for doing so were logical, at least from what he had said, his enthusiasm was a little too much for her. It was almost as if he had enjoyed carrying out his deicide.
"I envy you." She finally said. " Your enemies, the gods who stood against you, they fell easy until you lost your eye. The gods of my world were not weak, even when in their insanity. The constant fighting and conflict had made them strong, it was what gave them power. I on the other hand... I was in a weakened state, and still am, so I was no match for them. Neither was my brother, but.. he tried nonetheless."
She sniffled, and took another sip, but her body had begun to shake as well. The glass in her hands was trembling. "To protect me, his friends, and those he cared for... he fought tooth and nail against their darkness. Yes, he's foolish, and naive, but he is also dependable, and the best brother I could have ever wanted. No matter what, he's always cared for me, and I for him. For me, he did fight, when I could not, when I was at death's doorstep because of their power, and the abomination they had created to realize their dream... an abomination with power beyond the gods."
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