Deliverence. 5
"Was this really what
you wanted?" were her thoughts in those final years. As neglect and misuse
began to erode her otherwise immortal body. She moved little because she saw no
need to, she grew disdainful of her bastard children and disgusted at the acts
of their subjects. She refused to hear them or her worshippers; she went so far
as to refuse their offerings of souls. She had ruled this plane for countless centuries now, her
mind growing bored as her body grew idle. She ignored the urges of bloodshed
and carnage now, instead focusing her Labyrinthine mind on more subtle tasks,
such as thinking, dreams, and memories. She thought back to the days when the Pantheon knew nothing
of such things like The Lamented, or thoughts of war. Yes, they had such petty
squabbles now it seemed, but back then they seemed to be crisis's. Who was
worshipping whom, or which Goddess was having an affair with a mortal or which
God was pursing what Angel or Champion of who and whom. She remembered When
Mi'E swooned over the saintly man of one of the Sea-Kings communes, It was much
to the Old Serpents chagrin when Mi'E gave birth to a beautiful Arch-Angel that
now resided over the city to this day, the palace flourishing under the
protection of dual gods. Yet she could still recall the many spats Mi'E had
with the Sea God over the heritage of the Angel, it had gone so far as to have
D'ruin intervene and name the Angels soul, much to the Soul-Carriers annoyance.
The reapers job was an endless one. It made her smile, that pleasant memory. She hadn't smiled for over a century. The thought scared her. So she retreated back into the memories of the past. She
remembered the day of her and her sibling's ascension by the Dying God Ordose,
the Great God of the Macrocosm. She remembered his decree, and how he split
apart his infinite soul and gifted them each with one fragment, that they
journeyed to make whole. She remembered how he told them that it was a seed
that would not grow until they nurtured it, and only then when it bloomed would
they be reborn. She remembered the journey to awaken her God Seed. How she
traveled with her elder brother Ki'e whom she was madly in love with, and
younger sister Mi'e to far off and distant lands. How each of them encountered
different people, and gained a different perspective on life. She saw the beauty
in what could be made, and how short life could be, how it needed to be lived
to the fullest extent, like a candle burning its wick. She knew how her sister learned of unquestionable mercy and unending
compassion. How she would help everyone who needed healing or care, regardless
of what they were, what they stood for, or what they believed in. She would
help them, she would be ill and sickly, and she would refuse aid until she had finished
giving aid, she could be wounded and she would still press on to deliver
healing herbs to those in need. And then her brother... Oh how she loved him. The pranks he
would play, the games he created. He cared little for material things, although
he never seemed to be short of them. She once asked him how he could remain so
free of grief when it was all around him, and he simply shrugged, and said that
it was fun to be happy, and he was happy to have fun. He was simple, but wise
in that regard. And for that she loved him far
more then any sister should love a sibling. The more she remembered, the clearer the voice became. That
nagging, urging voice that was always at the back of her mind, but whenever she
tried to locate it, it would skitter away like an insect in the night. She let her thoughts drift away from the untraceable noise,
the further she fled from memories the less she heard it, which was nice. She hated the noise. Her hands move of their own accord. She let them craft
trinkets out of nothing, for what more could she do? She let her hands and mind
craft impossible objects, liquid crystal balls, stairs that went on forever
with silver men climbing them, living glowing stones that coiled like snakes
and twisted around each other. She found joy in this simple exercise, but then the voices
and sound came to her forefront, angry at her, shouting, demanding that she
stopped, that she be still, careless. She recoiled at it first, but she pressed
on, how dare it make demands of a
God. She grew constructs of light, mechanical beings that danced
on the palm of her hand, birds made of water and animals made of metal, the
voice grew louder still, but she pressed on. Until she came to a certain thing, an impossible sculpture
bending in onto itself, shimmering in the light like Crystal dew on the petals
of a flower early in the morning after rain. She remembered everything at once now, no more could she shy
away from the past for the past now came at her. Now she ignored the voice
entirely, it's screams and screeches, she reached out within her mind and
crushed the insect thing with but a casual thought, it had came to0 far from
the depths, it could not retreat as it once had. She remembered Ki'e, after the ascension, how he refused to
conquer through force, how he despised the Lord of Murder and the Lady of Chaos
for their cruel tricks that were no fun, how they warped their patrons and
slaughtered their followers, and how those same followers adored them all the
same. She remembered how she stole the knowledge from the Lady, and
took up the mantel of the Lord she slew. She had become everything He hated, and She did it in His
name. She cast the stairs with the silver men down, the liquid
crystal bounced along the ground, it's impossible shape coming to a stop at the
base of the window, she looked out at the city, she stood on weak legs now, and
she cried tears of anguish at what she saw. Murder and rape, debauchery and carnage, monuments raised in
her name, a cruel grin on the stone mirrors. She fell back into the throne, her
weak heart felt as if it would break. Oh, how she loathed herself. She looked upon the sculpture
she still clutched in her hand. She remembered it. It was a gift she made for a young boy who loved to play
tricks. For her brother, Ki'e, after he had ascended.She made it for him the night after He made love to her, that
secret night that was secret to them, and them alone. She let it fall from limp fingers, it rolled along the ground
stopping beside the silver men and the watery birds who took perch upon a tree
of sand with leaves of copper and gold. She clawed at her head; she screamed horridly with a cracked
and dry throat, her eyes bled tears as much as blood, and she as a whole was a
pathetic sight to behold. She fell back into the throne she had built upon the
suffering of many, and she wanted nothing more then to rid this hideous skin of
hers, this smelly carcass of a murderous god, that's what she wanted, that's
what she needed. No. It wasn't that. Run. She wanted to run. She wanted to escape; she wanted to flee until her feet bled
black and the taint drained from her body. But where could she run? She felt the muster of the Pantheon;
she knew the spear had been taken by one of her bastard children, Belrakier was
his name, she recalled. Her children... She had wronged all of them, and now they were
monsters. Or were they always monsters? Damned from the moment of conception?
Or damned by a mother who knew no better. No, she was lying to herself. She knew she knew better, she just didn't
care. She did now though. But pity and remorse could do nothing,
and even with her powers she couldn't reverse such damage, it was far beyond
her power. Unless she were to invoke the power of the void once more... NO! Never again, forever shall she distance herself from the
wretched void! Never to be it's slave again! Only one child of hers could be- and had been- saved,
Belrakier. The Angel of Repentance. One of her most sadistic children, taught
away from his nature, and risen again as a warrior of light against her.
Destined to destroy the evil God Queen with a Spear of light born from shadows. She wondered briefly. Only for a fleeting moment, she
wondered. She wondered if she could be forgiven? Even by the most slight of
chances if it were at all possible, if it were, she would take it, she would
throw away everything, even her god-hood if it could be done, she would die if
it meant she could be redeemed. No, she couldn't. Her sins were so many, and
the deaths so great and all of them tragic, each one a chance quashed from
existence, all possibilities stolen away from them. . She would have to suffer and die over a thousands deaths just
to make up for but a handful.She had not a hundred lives to give she had only one immortal
one. But whoever said they would be merely content with her death?
Perhaps they had 'other' plans in mind, other 'methods' at their disposal to
enact retribution on her body. They would cut her, flay her, burn her, she knew
this to be true, and she had once witnessed their wrath before. She would be
ill fated to suffer it herself. She shuddered, a chill ran through her, grief and guilt were
set aside, in favor of fear and self-preservation. She would survive; she
wouldn't let it end like this, not before she sought a chance at redemption. Exile. To run, self-imposed ostracism, she doubted that any
being on this place would raise their voice against her immolation or being
cast into the depths as she had to so many others. So she would run, she would flee and cower in the shadows,
waiting until the time for the song of return to be sung once more. She doubted
that it would be short, perhaps eons upon millennia before one would speak her
name in casualty. If there ever were a chance for that to happen, for a chance
for her to return home again, then she would gladly take it, and if it meant
exile, then so be it. She could not run in this realm, they would sense her
presence if she were to ever leave this castle of cursed wards. There were very
few options of escape left to her, destroying herself and denying them there
chance at seeing her suffer was one, discarding her Godhood was another, but
she suspected they could still find her regardless, and she would be powerless
to stop them. Then there was the last option. The forbidden Arts. The dark secrets she swindled from the
mind of the Mad Lady of Chaos. The secrets of The Depths, the Damned knowledge. Hypocrisy... But she refused to let her soul be flayed alive by
the Pantheon. She let it's knowledge embrace her One. Last. Time. Ci'e knew much of the hidden knowledge, but she had forgotten
much as well, when she purged the denizen of The Depths from her mind, it took
with it all its secrets and misbegotten arts. She held onto what little she could, and the precious gems
that she snatched away from the creature were fascinating to behold, she felt
the long lost thrill of discovery fill her once more. She had to act fast. She could feel the Pantheon muster its
forces, it would storm her wretched empire soon, and as she wouldn't mind
seeing it fall, she would rather live to see what came after. She chanted the damned litanies, steeling her mind against
what she was about to summon. She reached out into the ethereal realm
surrounding her, she required more strength then she had at the moment to do
this.
Her cursed followers would suffice... She plucked many wicked souls that day, and she felt no
remorse as she cast them into oblivion, a mercy in comparison to what Belrakier
would sentence them to. She used their dying screams to fuel the gate she had
created, it's black luster doors imprinted themselves upon the wall before her,
corporeal energies sucked at the air, and light seemed to bend and distort
before it. She let fall her hand, a quick breath was all she needed as
she then let her spirit float free of her mortal form, the shell let light fade
from it's eyes as her godly essence seeped from its being. Taking her true form
she grasped the handle to the cursed door with a shining golden hand, and
pulled it open. She was flung into the swirling mass of black and impossible
colors, creatures swarmed around her, hungering for her soul as they had not
feasted in never and at the same time always, they had no reason or meaning,
nor any physical being to speak of, so that was why they sought hers in the
beginning, now, they sought it only out of malice. There was no real way to comprehend them; even the Mind of a
Goddess such as Ci'e couldn't understand their nonsensical existence, or
non-existence, or something in-between. So she shielded herself from them, her powerful radiance
casting them aside as she fell through the place between realms. And then it was over. She broke through a hole in the
non-reality. An invisible scar that allowed madness to pass through, without
thinking she sealed the rift, disallowing the 'things' passage into this new
and innocent dimension, she would not let this corruption of the void fall onto
her temporary sanctuary, she was only a guest, after all. And so she drifted, through the endless void of space. She
was glowing, too resplendent to look at, floating through the path between
worlds. Stars glittered all around her, diamonds in the eternal night-sky. She
let her true form recede back into her, taking on a more mundane yet just as
immortal body, she did not wish to leave a trail of breadcrumbs leading her kin
to her. It was not yet time for a reunion. She relaxed at last, the song of planets played over and over
caressed her ears, the night-sky of infinite potential filled her eyes, and the
caress of nothingness on her shoulders. Her hair fanned out all around her,
floating as if in water, she closed her eyes, and fell back into
unconsciousness, letting the void carry her.