{"sf1_id":721829,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Hubris. 2","author":"MagnumGit","words":1585,"posted_at":"2014-06-24T06:31:00.000Z","tags":["Fantasy","Sci-Fi","Supernatural"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/721829-hubris-2","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/721829","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=721829\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nThere was a requiem.  A mass uprising amongst the mortal populace of their realm. Foulness\nhad seeped through the cracks of heir plane and spawned. What they spawned were\npitiful, selfish things that came before them, scions of the old gods, things\nof lament. The Lament. What could have been.         What has passed. Those before time.  Those of the Forgotten. Those who never came to be. They festered and grew; the people were swayed by these foul things\nand worshipped them, as the Gods of the pantheon were lax, and bickered with\neach other, sometimes forgetting about their devotees in favor of acts of\nhubris and contempt.  The Old gods broke through the thin fabric of this realm and\nswept across the land like a sickness, a plague of deluded impossibilities and\nforgotten dreams they were. They rose, coalesced into form, and did battle with\nthe Pantheon. They were misshapen things, only husks of what they once were- or\ncould have become- greedy things that whined, clammy hands clawing for their\nformer- or promised- glory.  They corrupted the Pantheons gods, enslaved them and bound\nthem, broke their minds and chained them. Even the Proud Baroness of War became\nnothing more then a whore impaling herself on the phallus of a mad god of lust\nof old.  Some of the Pantheon stood defiant against the Lamenting, but\ntheir power waned as more and more of their worshippers fell to the Lament,\nembracing the old ways over the Pantheon. Some fell in battle, some were\nconsumed, some became slaves, and some even gave themselves willingly, becoming\nHeralds of the old ones. But there were a few who evaded the Lamenters. The Siblings\nof Passion, Ci'e, Ki'e and Mi'e, the Carrier of Souls, Lord of Infinity, Lord\nof Anger, Girl of Flowers, Lady of Chaos, Tantus of the Mighty, Lord of the\nSea, and Lady of Embers. These few were still revered by the small faction of\nfaithful who spoke of their love for them, and in return did the few remaining\nof the pantheon protect them. They gave great boons to their followers. They\ngifted them with weapons and armor of divine quality, as well as fighting at\ntheir side as well.  Tantus inspired his people, bestowing strength and turning\nthe foul forgotten back at every turn. His Starlight fists smashed apart the\nhands of despair, and tore victory from the arms of defeat. The Ascendant Champion\ndrove back the nightmares as he had done before long ago on a bridge to a\nforsaken town against an army that sought it to be burned, but no longer did he\nstand-alone. \nThe Great Sea King summoned mighty storms to sweep away the armies of their\nenemy, drowning the hated foe, and breaking ships apart with but a will,\nsundering entire armadas before they released their baneful cargo.  The Lord of Anger was unleashed upon the Lament. A storm born\nof a tyrant's red rule, he was a visage emblazoned on eternal hate, the ruby\nred king of unending carnage wasted no time in ending the lives of thousands\nupon millions. His infernal visage scarred the very earth itself.  The Child of Fire-core of malice. The Lady of Embers. She was\nunbound; the saintly golden cloth unraveled from her eyes, her tapping's removed.\nShe became what she had always been; she became War, The Core of Malice. She\nbore upon her foes with the spite of eons, Forgotten gods ceased to be as they\nwere incinerated with the heat of a thousand dying stars, fire licked from her\never-wounds, her shell peeled away to reveal the avatar of destruction that had\nhidden inside her so long ago, now freed from it's prison, it cared not of what\nit burned, so long as it burned.  The Siblings of Passion each did their part, Ki'e slipped\nthrough the shadows of shadows, unceasing in his games of torment, stealing and\nscheming, sundering the Lamenting from within. Mi'e cured the sick, healed the\nwounded, and wept for the fallen. She would take no part in fighting, as it was\nnot her way.  Ci'e descended to the earth like a falling star, great towers\nrose at her command, and unyielding burning stone golem armies assembled before\nher. She mustered the strength of her people where it was the weakest, and saw\nto it that it became a point of un-breaking steel before she carried on to the\nnext beleaguered siege. The earth crushed flat before her majesty.  The Soul harvester was constant, forever did he exist, the second\neldest among them all, he bore no allegiance to the Pantheon Remnants, nor the\nLamenting ones. He would not yield to any, for he was his own. He plucked the\nsouls of innocent and forgotten, sinner and renown alike, no pity or remorse in\nhis task as he ferried them through the afterlife.  The lady of Discord, the Lady of Chaos for once was silenced,\nher mad cackling squelched by the impossibilities around her, impossibilities\nthat not even madness could comprehend, nor realize. So she set forth against\nthe Lamenters alongside her orderly kin. She wove spells of unreal complexity\nyet of fay simplicity, fire storms of water, thunderbolts of earth, life giving\ndeath, madness within, and madness without, she spoke the forbidden words and\nsummoned creatures unseen since the dawn of existence, great formless beings,\nscions of the Eldest-Kin, the God vassals. She released their eldritch fury\nupon the impossible; the god-machines walked once more, crushing nothing, and\nat the same time everything beneath them.  The Girl of Flowers was brought forth to the field of battle.\nShe was shown the sundering of all that was good, and killing of all that was fair,\nthe travesties that had been wrongly wrought. She wept. And where her tears\nfell, great plants grew, plants watered by the tears of a Goddess. Righteous\nand furious oaks with nettle-thorn branches, Spriggons with whips of hemlock,\nand rose petal shields, Ents of great strength and compassion leapt forth from\nthe ground, determined to right the grievances of the world.    The Lord of Infinity. The one that came before even the Soul\nCarrier, Dru'n. Before life, before time, before the universe itself, there was\nthe Infinity Lord. The impossible Knight in impossible armor wielding a blade\nof woes and shield of joy. Unspeaking and un-erring it sought only to protect\nthe Gates. The Gates that lead to Truth. The gates of answers, the gate that\nwould only open at the end times when the Knight would speak the words of\nopening, and let through the ending few. Never would any pass before then. And\nonly then would the chosen pass. The impossible gate, no one knew what it lead\nto, only that it was the 'Truth' behind it's walls. So they rallied around his\ntowering form, besieged by foes of so many faces, some familiar some not, they\nsat in silence as the Knight Lord of Infinity banished the unclean with but a\nwave of his hand, his knowledge as immortal as he.  And so they held. The forces of what was and what could have\nbeen balked at their walls, the Fallen Pantheon made little headway against\nsuch stalwart defenders.A great wall was built between the Fallen Lands and the Remaining\nPantheon Defenders, right down the middle of the seen plane; the massive wall\nof 30 miles high and 15 miles wide towered above all else. Cities built into\nit, entire populations devoted to its defense and maintenance. Ci'e herself\nresided within its metal hold.  The war of the Lamenters drew to a tenuous close. The Land of\nthe Fallen began to rise, ancient empires and forgotten gods and gods that\ncould have been and now were rose and fought against each other, only the\nstrongest survived. The Angle King Arin'ell and his empire of purity shown\nthroughout the lands, the 100 miles high tower of shimmering radiance\nilluminated both before and after dusk and dawn.  The Travesties'' of Brenks, the empire of the Rat-kings was\nformed once more, every man a king of fallen castles, tattered banners marched\nas one throughout the land, nomad warrior kings, faithful Knights still\nfollowing even after the fall of their lord-and masters.  The Shamrink domain rose again, lost to ancient history, the\nmad god of lust and now his whore-queen of war, resplendent armor now stripped\nof her, replaced with naught but her bare skin, her heavenly body enough to\ndrive the most stoic of men mad with desire. The mad Sex-fiend come God and his\nempire of sin, a realm of eternal night and endless day, streets filled with\nthe moans and smacks of flesh against flesh, and endless orgy and sacrilege.  The empires of many old and forgotten rose alongside empires\nthat could have been but never were, war still beat in the hearts and minds of\nmany, but another war did not come to pass. Fallen and risen empires had no\nwish to confront a pantheon of gods and their followers all on their own, and\nnone were willing to work to rectify the dilemma. \nInstead peace was sought out between the New Pantheon and\nFallen Lands. Representatives from the neighboring states and countries met atop\nthe great wall of Division. Smoldering looks were exchanged before the talks of\npeace, and perhaps eventual prosperity would see the day through. Peace was\ncalled for, and so they answered, a hand given, a hand exchanged, a white dove\nto set aloft on ivory wings.Fate chose otherwise "}