Non-AP: Just defining my exarchs a little more. TASOE is crafting the "three" god beasts to be "replacements" for the three "still living" Firsts. The Behemoth started off as a mountain, but then someone lit it on fire, so now it's a creature of stone, magma, and fire. The leviathan is a thing of cold, darkness, and water. And the Ziz is... wait, I still have to make that one. For now, let's just say that its a giant flying cup of tea :P
The toxic pressure under the crater caused a nearby cliff to shift, sending a small stream of pebbles and dirt sliding down. As the rocks bounces, their sound was shifted and morphed, reaching Agni's ears as children giggling.
They were playing games. Futile games with petty meanings. Azgo would not stand for this, and the time to force an ultimatum was nigh.
"Let us say? Let us pretend?! YOU ARE MY TRAITOR, AGNI!"
A faint gleam of hope shimmered in Azgo's eyes. He spoke with eqaul parts malice and rapture, enthralled in the future he would carve out.
"The Plan... it is the the recording of the First. The greatest decisions and their consquences all laid out out over the numberless stretches of time. The very best that creation could possibly be, down to the very fibers of the gods themselves. Nothing awry, nothing unplanned. Everything accounted for and predicted with the power of The First, God among Gods. It was... perfect. Beyond perfect."
And with the momentum of speech, his words rolled seamlessly from worship into righteous hate. The storm intensified. The stone moved into indistinct forms, words, odes of the plan. Entire civilizations of words glowed in the stone, brought straight from the memory of The Blood Crowned's aching mind.
"You had a part in it. We all did. You were my servants!..."
There was a painful pause, Azgo felt a twinge of vulnerability.
"You were my siblings... I did not choose to be King, Agni! I was told to be! Commanded to be! AND I OBEYED! BUT YOUR SCORN, YOUR GREED, YOUR JEALOSY TOOK HOLD OF YOU!! YOU COULD NOT SUFFER ME TO RULE! AND SO YOU BROKE THE WHOLE OF THE PLAN FOR YOUR OWN GAIN, TO WALLOW IN THE POWER THAT YOU STOLE! TO WALLOW IN THE SUFFERING OF THIS IMPERFECT PLAN YOU HAVE FASHIONED!"
The words disappeared, and the ground shook.
"THE TIME FOR WORDS HAS ENDED!! YOU ARE A WOUND IN THE WILL! YOUR MERE EXISTENCE IS ANATHEMA TO THE PLAN! YOU ARE UNFORGIVABLE! IRREDEEMABLE!"
"SURRENDER AND PERISH! OR RESIST AND PERISH! THE MIGHT OF THE FIRST IS WITH ME!!"
Powerful gusts of black miasmas and sickly, emerald light billowed out from the gaps in Azgo's hands. The armor gleamed in its light, and despite its bloody tarnish, the symbol of Thereus was faintly visible on the breastplate. Only a fraction of a second passed before the symbol was shrouded in smoke.
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. -Revelation 21:6
The dark God's words slid across Agni's psyche, searching for a vulnerable crack to lever open and force their way into for devastating consequence. Agni tried his best to ignore it, focusing instead on Azgo, who continued to rant against Agnifor crimes that Agni could not remember comitting. In vain, Agni cast his memories back, willing himself further back in time. He was forming himself of magma, he was sparking across the dust that had filled creation, he was a primordial spark, he... darkness. He was nothing. And yet, he seemed to be able to remember being nothing. How does one remember non-existence? Agni willed himself further back.
An eye, massive in size and bloodshot flashed through his mind for a brief instant before shattering his concentration. What? What was that?
Agni blinked and returned his focus, momentarially lost, to the present, just in time to see his son's symbol flash in the darkness. Where had the Smithlord gone? Agni suddenly wondered. His son had been honor bound to protect him, and yet he had never appeared when Agni was imprisoned. The presence of his armor on this God...
You killed my SON? Agni roared. I was prepared to speak, KinSlayer. I was prepared to attempt to bargain with you. No more. DeathLord, let us deal with this one.
Agni opened his mouth and a wave of magma flew from it towards Azgo
"So only now, when you know of loss, do you regret? How patheticly self-centered. But then, I never intended to bargain."
Azgo plunged his hands deep into the stone and gave it the very essence of his breath, and the ground before the gods split into a yawning chasm of erupting steam. The potent magma stream was pulled apart by the blinding black fumes and cast into the air. The Godcrater began to rain molten metal of the god's fury and cinders danced across the cyclone's currents. The Fused God's lungs felt like they were filled with searing fire. Even the sun had not been this intense. Summoning up his hate, the god spoke through the agony to the smoky presence at his command.
"Torment him. Distract him with the truth, for he is not worthy of deceit. You may die, but such is the price that we pay to make things right again."
Azgo imbued some of his memory into his servant. The darkening cloud seemed eager for conflict, and sunk its way into the ground. Moments later, the grand wall of smoke glowed with the eerily vibrant color of sickness aflame and the cloud soared into the air. The pillar gathered in the atmosphere, and then spiraled down unto Agni, swallowing him in The Eclipse Aflame. Azgo gave a moments glance at Agni; his servant could not possibly win, but with the plane's help, it could hold him off.
Azgo, still swathed in blood about his brow and seeping through the gaps across his whole body, called out to Zebus with a voice distorted in the howling wall's winds.
"Come Zebus. You cannot escape the past forever."
And the Godcrater shook so violently that it began to tear at the edges. Layers of stone fell into the ocean, and the tallest mountains of the basin fell into rubble. It seemed... eager as well.
Non-AP Action: The Godcrater is an extention of Azgo's power, will, and hate. It attempts in every way possible to harry the Firstborn, including moving the ground to impede their footwork or attempts at movement, opening monsterous gesyers to capitalize on their mistakes, and buffeting them with hurricane-strong wind. The corruption of the plane is begining to assault the gods, attempting to turn them sick with Azgo's illness. At this rate, the Godcrater will fall apart.
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. -Revelation 21:6
A human boy, barely old enough to walk, would never walk again. His legs had been injured in the attack, and the slender-folk's "medicine" was harsh. They amputated what couldn't be saved and cauterized the rest. Now his body was wane, weak from the ordeal, but his parents had hope. He was growing stronger every day, although he could still barely get up from his bed.
It was night and his father watched over him as he slept. It had been another hard day, and the child was tired. It would be a hard life. Best to let sleep hide his worries.
The child didn't rest peacefully, though. It turned frequently, twisting in his sleep. Even though winter had reached before ground here, the boy began to sweat. The father held back, unsure if he should wake him.
He didn't need to.
The boy's eyes opened so wide the father became afraid they'd fall out. He began to sit up, to comfort the child, but the boy sat up first and shouted.
"The darkness comes!"
~~~Godcrater~~~
Darkness grew and light fled.
Smoke gathered and blotted out the sky. Sun and moon were no more.
The fires in this acursed realm still burned, the gods could feel their heat, but darkness had become a thing. A creeping, coating, smothering, suffocating thing.
Darkness became so thick that even sound quivered and died.
Were there movements in the dark, or was that a trick of light-starved eyes? The sensation of being watched grew. Although it was silent, the silence whispered.
A chill, not of cold but of fear, brushed by Zebus. The silence broke, and there was a whisper in his ear.
Zeeby-Leeby stood very tall
Zeeby-Leeby had a great fall.
All the god's hope and all the god's preenin'
Couldn't make Zeeby important again.
The presence moved on, unseen but sensed, and returned to Agni. It paused, as if considering this creature. Then, it struck.
1AP Attack God - Umbra defends Azgo. Yes, with nursery rhymes. They're psychological fear attacks! Not really sure what psychological weakness Zebus might have, but I thought he might be afraid of being useless (after all, he doesn't have a good track record so far of, you not, not dying and not killing the very mortals he's trying to save). For Agni, I was thinking he might be worried that no one loves him. Let me know if you think of better fears for your god's, and I'll be happy to make new nursery rhymes.
And the ground below him started to crumble. Zebus took this time to move. Running across the rocks, Zebus disappeared in a cloak of shadow only to reappear next to Azgo. His cloak, made of pure shadow flows behind him in the wind.
Who says I'm hiding. I have no past, nor future. I am the end point. The first born, and the last dead. Regardless of what may have been in a past life, is now null. We are born anew with new starts and new lives. You seek to ruin that, I seek only to collect what is mine.
Zebus jumps out of the way of Agni's magma. This one is mine I said Agni! Find the speaker, Get the one who messes with our minds, and you will have your vengance!
Then the darkness grew and fell over them all. One has problems with breaking the darkness when it doesn't wish to be broken. I shall wait till you depart, then Azgo and I may continue.
I am both selfish and chaotic. I value self-gratification and control; I want to have things my way, preferably now. At best, I'm entertaining and surprising; at worst, I'm hedonistic and violent.
Azgo rematerialized in an instant, changing his direction to face the traitor. And soon a darkness enshrouded all of them.
"I am the endpoint?!"
It was ridiculous. It was no wonder that the Firstborn had been so willing to crush him under heel...
They were drowning in delusion. Malice-tainted bile dribbled down Azgo's lips.
"Do you have no sense of place? The power you are unfit to wield was a gift! You are... replaceable; You are a god Zebus, nothing more. An arrogant, foolish god who deserted the others as swiftly as you deserted me. You strive to salvage purpose- but you know that is something you will never have. Hide from youself, but know that you cannot hide from me!"
What did that fool Zebus think this was? An honorable duel? A challenge for the sake of valor?
NO! Zebus deserved no such thing. He deserved nothing less than to be obliterated and to have his very name scoured from memory. Not even eternal suffering would earn penance. Only destruction.
Azgo could not see aside from the tiny motes of glowing ash in the wind, contrasting feebly the absoluteness of the black. But this was the Godcrater, Azgo's plane, and his manifested will in the stone. Azgo did not need to see. He extended his pain through the area and felt the abomination of Zebus' being. He felt his light steps upon his bursting, scaly back. He felt the frosted kiss of the Reaping Sword as it parted the winds. And he felt the slightest touch of deital corruption on the edges of the gods' essence as The Blood Crowned's sickness cralwed across him.
"And Vengance! What do You know of Vengance, Zebus? Do you know the suffering of the mortals who must toil under imperfection? Do you know the suffering of the First, whose final moments that were to be blessings were instead tears upon MY hands? AND DO YOU KNOW OF MY SUFFERING, THE PAIN I FEEL? THAT I AM?"
Embers spiraled everywhere, adn the wind gathered them into the the skies. The Godcrater glowed red and yellow, and was blanketed in noxious shadow.
"YOU KNOW NOTHING OF LOSS AND ANGUISH! OF GRIEF AND SUFFERING! OF HATE! COME, LET ME TEACH YOU!
Giant stony fists erupted from the ground as if they had waited there for ages. Four of them with taloned fingers interlocked in the air and came crashing down unto Zebus.
Azgo readied himself, and kept vigil into the darkness with blinded eyes. And hatred kept its counsel.
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. -Revelation 21:6
