Greetings all
This has been a long week and I am glad the week is done. I actually forgot to write up today's post yesterday and had to write a bit this morning. I hope you all enjoy it! Don't forget to read @zakludick's update before getting stuck into mine.
Bellum tried to stretch in the body he was now occupying. It was stiff, like a piece of jerky and he wondered how Mortis had been able to move the way that he had. He removed the gauntlets and looked at his shrivelled hands. They were completely withered but had enough movement to open and close as needed.
He then opened and closed his jaws a few times, feeling the withered muscles move hesitantly. Even the tongue that sat between his teeth was withered and he wondered how the revenant had managed to communicate.
“That is very disconcerting.” Said the goddess.
“Try feeling it from my point of view.” He mumbled.
“I spent decades rotting. I know the feeling.” The goddess waved her arm around the room, “Shall we leave them to sleep?”
“Will they be safe?”
“They will.” She started walking off and Bellum followed.
They left the church and made their way into the forest. As his sister walked, life sprang up around her feet. She was smiling as she touched the withered and grey bark of trees to give life back to them. Bellum was pleased to see the recovery in his sister, but he worried if she was what she had been millennia ago.
“Bellum, we cannot hide ourselves anymore.” She said as she stopped and turned to him. “The thing that took hold of the girl, that should never be allowed to find its way into this world.”
“Why? It helped you.”
“And I am sure there will be a cost involved if it hasn’t been paid already by the human that looked like he had his mind shredded.”
“Ah, the one that wasn’t the uncle. Perhaps, but why do you care?”
“Why do you?” she countered.
“Vitex…”
“Bellum, the core of this world is rotting. Things are coming here and laying claim to people and land. Did you see how those children are scarred? They are already tainted in ways that our parents never should have allowed had they remained in this world.”
“Well, the higher-ups are no longer here and there are only us.”
She snorted and turned from him, “Us? How many of us are bothering to do anything? You have been locked in your ruins because of your stupid feelings about finding someone worthy. Then when you find someone worthy you pick a walking-talking corpse.”
“You’d be surprised by the number of followers this corpse has. The Blazeknights…”
“The gods have been absent for too long and look at this world. It’s rotting! Literal children are used as sacrificial pieces allowing those beyond the veil to get a foothold. We have to do something.”
“We were left here…”
“By absentee parents who clearly no longer care for this world. We have to step up. If mortals can fight this hard to righten things, then they need something to answer their calls. We were left behind…”
“We are meant to observe, not interfere.”
“And what do you call this?” Vitex suddenly turned around and indicated Bellum’s new form. “Is this with purpose or do you miss the devotion?”
Bellum remained silent; his sister had hit the nail on the head. He missed the old days when his areas of devotion were filled with warriors praying for guidance or strength. He had been far stronger back then, but since their parents had left this world to its own devices that strength had disappeared, and false gods had risen in their places.
“What if we weren’t abandoned, what if we were given a chance to guide this world?” she asked.
“Vitex you were literally turned into an abomination.”
“And that was my fault. I fell to promises, but I know better now. We know better Bellum. We need to guide these mortals. Fix this world. Root out the rot and prevent those across the veil from getting a foothold again. The more worlds that fall, the more of us that become what I was.”
Bellum ignored her speech and asked, “What was the thing that came into that room and took over the girl?”
Vitex looked up at the sun and frowned, “Nothing good. Something that craves life and will get it in whatever way it can. The only thing that keeps it back is the dedication of those who deal with the rot spreading. However, they are few and they are weak. The one you reside in was created to guard the living from the curses of those beyond the veil. The twins have been touched by fire and cold and will never be the same. The taint is here, and our parents have fled in terror. We must step up and do the jobs that were assigned to us.”
“There aren’t many of us, and the rot is deep.”
“Do you want the devotion or not? Don’t you miss your name being the final word echoed by dying soldiers?”
Bellum did miss it, but he didn’t know how to fix the world they were in. He was war, he destroyed, he didn’t build, he didn’t grow. How could he fix what was crumbling around him?
“Dear brother, do you truly believe that is your purpose? To destroy?” Vitex stepped forward and cupped his face. “Have you forgotten your true purpose as well?”
Vitex continued to smile, “Yes, you are war, but you are also strength, integrity, and mercy. These are the characteristics that we need to heal this world.”
“Gods don’t interfere.” He muttered.
“True, but we can have those we act through. You have, this thing.” She indicated the body.
“Mortis.”
“Mortis. I will choose one in due time.”
“But we are only two, what can two abandoned gods that are no longer prayed to going to do to fix a world that is so corrupt that things can slide in and out of it as they please.”
“That is something the mortals will have to help us with. I think I need to have a closer look at that wolf. His bravery was quite unmatched when the prince made his way into my depths to cleanse me.”
“Derric? He’s not a wolf.”
“Oh, I am well aware of who and what he is. Which is why I’m considering making him my vessel.”
The two gods stood in the sun-dappled clearing for a while before Vitex smiled and said, “I would like to spread more life through this forest, it has been too long. The mortals are safe and will continue to sleep for hours more. Would you accompany me as I work?”
While the smile felt as if someone was pulling his face, Bellum smiled and nodded his head.
Here is an explanation of Chain Stories and here is the current Chainstory Library
Mortis Custos
Sanguifex
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