Community

~God Crater~

Arusi sighed when the Light finally ceased to be. He was indeed the sanest form the aberrant had taken, but that didn't mean he wasn't stark-raving mad. Why wasn't he willing to force Isura's shell to take back that which had left it? Surely, there was more to the Light than that. Unfortunately, though the world was a better place now that the source of infection was destroyed, others had been infected and remained so. The mad-god was proof of that. The gods still needed to be purged, the world still needed to be purged. Well, he was at least willing to act, whereas her brother seemed to be dedicated to talking. Between inaction and madness, she hoped madness would at least be useful. So, when Dloz advanced on Tsiyoti, Arusi grabbed the eye and then circled around to her brother's back. She tried to make it as merciful and painless as she could.

When it was done, she reached out her hand towards the western sea. In a moment a hunk of ancient flesh came flying to her and she placed the blood inside. The flesh seemed to become a fresh heart, and she tossed it to Dloz. "There, you have your blood. Perhaps you see now that I do not wish to hinder your quest but rather to help? My concern is that things are done correctly, so that nothing remains to hinder what must be. You have most her form, but did you kill all of the gods as well? Mother gave each of her children two gifts: part of her body and part of her life. If you want to give mother her life back, you have to take it from the others as well. And not just her children: the gods who came later are part of the pattern, their continued life keeps mother at bay. You will need to take their lives as well. Will you allow me to help you in this?"

~Hearth~

Ourogandr's chamber was a massive affair, carved from the inner workings of the volcano by a trio of master stonecrafters. Large, fluted columns thrust upwards into the oblivion of the murkish depths of the ceiling. There were no lights of any sort in the room, only a subtle glow that emanated from between Ourogandr's scales when the great Wyrm moved. 

For a while, there was nothing but the almost unnatural stillness and the rhythmic heavings of the serpent's respiration. Finally, some small light coalesced as Ourogandr moved forward, peering at the old man intently.

"I... do not know you. Yet you smell of Tsiyoti." The serpent head receeded. "Go on then. Talk. I am listening." 

~Pharoah's Chamber~
"So be it."

~Hearth~

The old man looked nervously over his shoulder, his hand gripping the staff tighter as he grunted in pain and stooped down a little more.

"I fear Tsiyoti is no more, and my time in this world is ending.  Surely you have seen and felt the destruction of the Mountain and the laying bare of the Gate for all to see.  You are the only divine being who remains.  The rest are dead and gone.   You must tell your master to travel to the Mountain to save us all from destruction.  My powers fade, or I would do this myself." 

"So you are a coward then, huddling here in this dark cave while the world comes crashing down around you.  I figured as much.  Were I to have the power, I would rage *cough*  Rage against the dying of the light.  Is it not a greater abandonment to selfishly sit here?  So I do.  I name you Coward."

The old man turned and began to slowly walk from the room, leaning heavily on the staff.

"Perhaps there is another somewhere who has true divinity, true selflessness, within himself.  I must find them." 

The old man coughed and a fleck of blood appeared on his sleeve as he wiped his mouth.

"What I want is to live, but that will not occur.  I am... I was... Tsiyoti's voice in the world.  I was his... you.  But he is dead now, and while I still have a small amount of his favor within me, his influence on the world fades, and with it I fade as well.   If I cannot live, I wish the world to.   I wish his people to flourish, I wish his oceans to continue to roar, I wish people to continue to remember him despite this Ragnarok."

"That, you miserable worm who hides in the dark, is what I want.  Life for the world, which is denied myself."

Another cough wracked the man's body, and he put out a hand to lean against the wall while he recovered.

"Pragmatism.  A coward's word to hide his yellow-bellied-ness.  You are not safe here.   You cannot ride out this storm.  The world arose from the Gate and now, unless someone does something, the Gate is going to take it all back.  You are divine.  You are the strongest being left in the universe.  And yet you do not even try.  You, Isura... if you will not try, then perhaps you were never Gods to begin with."