monzun (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
monzun) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
boxfullofzeroes2025-03-17 06:58 am
monzun) wrote in boxfullofzeroes2025-03-17 06:58 am
then it becomes, it becomes, it becomes a problem, then--
Monzun watches over their people. They teach their Creature. That was all they knew and all they really wanted initially, when they were freshly-created, and perhaps it ever would have been if another god's cruelty hadn't cut in.
Their goal had never been to be the only god. It was that, and then it had been surviving to oppose Nemesis, and now he was gone, and it seemed they were the only regardless.
("Eh, screw 'em! What've other gods been but trouble for us, huh?")
("Well...It is a bit lonely. And Khazar's actions are the only reason we're around today, isn't that right?")
The power of the Creeds trickle back alongside the power of the people. And then torrents, and a flood. The Miracles they use grow stronger beyond even Wonders' assistance.
Generations of their people live and proliferate and die, and Monzun's strength doesn't waver, but increases even as the populations settle lower than the war efforts and post-war burst their levels to being.
("Yeah! We're badass! Even if it could use a lil more fireballin' to make all this peace more exciting, Boss.")
Their Creature and people are safe. They revel in being only gentle without consequence but worshippers' occasional disrespect, and they find they care little about that--unless they harm others in their village, and then Creature gentle scolding or abrupt relocation across the land tends to work nearly as well as lightning would have.
Their intervention is needed less even as they notice more. Little beacons where their people were, somewhere well beyond the seas, still worshipping where it once couldn't reach.
And something else. A shard of someone.
Another...another god? Near their people? The numbers waver, some converting to the other, fewer converting to Monzun, as reasonable without them there to demonstrate their power.
They need to look.
("Could be a fresh threat we need to squash.")
("Or they may be a new god in need of a Guide?")
A fragment of them even hopes...
...
...Nemesis' brutality means their consciences say nothing while their Teleports are slowly practiced until they look something closer to a Vortex the old gods used.
It's not quite as large. Redder. But far more than a simple Teleport.
The day comes where they reach across the Lands and place it where they sense their lingering people and that god.
("Let's go!")
("It's so exciting! But we don't need to rush quite yet--")
Monzun takes some time to look over their nearest people and discuss. Khazar brought them Disciples; they could bring some possibly willing to convert to another, although they seem confused by the conversation. Do any of theirs know Miracles? Oh? Yes? One of Sable's decedents picked up the Wood Miracle, they hadn't realized that was possible--
A part of them is distant, distant, distant.
Monzun reaches for their Creature and finds they stare down into the Vortex.
Ah.
It seems their impatience was noticed and acted upon.
In another part of Eden, a Vortex opened on the side of a mountain that Monzun's old Temple still stands on. The air splits with a shocked bellow as a massive Leopard Creature steps onto nothing and tumbles down into the water.
Ouch.
Only a little ouch. It wasn't that far, but Sweetheart wasn't expecting it. She stands and shakes the water off a little--oooh, fish. Scoops up a handful of fresh fish to eat, and then turns around to claw up the mountain to peek over the edge.
There are a few people! Worshipping wrong, or maybe just frightened. That's okay. She's pretty different now. She doesn't mind when they take off running when they un-freeze.
...Most of the trees she grew are missing. She doesn't like that, she worked hard on those.
She climbs up all the way--oh, the Temple's smaller, or she's so big as to match?--and immediately gets to Miracle Watering the withered ones in the worship sites left.
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He underestimated them. A new god is flexible; they have not yet settled into themselves. Their decisions are made reactively, and they learn fast. It was this that made Monzun unpredictable.
They remain so, he realises, as the air thickens. He looks nervously for a reddening sky and tries to mollify them.
"Nemesis is gone," he reminds them, quickly, boldly. "You might return to your birthplace. You may do anything you please," Lethys continues, a little more frantic, "and none would dare to stop you. Eden will -" bow? They haven't seemed like they would prefer that. "...flourish beneath you," he deftly finishes, eyeing the greenery in the distance by their Temple.
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"He killed what he killed, but the fool cannot destroy what remains! Eden will flourish," Monzun declares, but--what was that he said first? Anything they please? They only now see the clouds that gather thickly above, around, and they make a sound like rain hitting burning rocks.
They wildly pull away from Lethys and back towards the mountains, and fortunately the storm summoned lazily follows along their path.
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He is relieved when Monzun retreats. Their boiling temper sets him on edge, even if they're far from his Temple and his people.
"Eden is your playground," he confirms, reluctantly following a lagging distance behind. Whether it is his attempts at mollifying them, or not, Monzun's roiling temper seems to be simmering a little lower. "You may fear no other god now. Not I. Not Nemesis. None will challenge you."
If they do bring their anger further into his territory, Lethys is not certain what he'll do about it. Discreetly (or not so much) he traces and readies a Spiritual Shield.
Across the plains, Laetes plucks a horse from the grass and examines it, then turns to stare expectantly at Sweetheart.
He thinks for a moment. Then he hurls the panicking horse through the air towards the Leopard. Catch.
bullshitting these directions a little bit who caaaares
But she's pulled back quickly. Laetes is playing!
The earth quakes as the Leopard launches herself forward, horse captured in her jaws rather than her paws. A flawless catch, if she does say so herself.
Monzun doesn't care for what Lethys is saying. He is correct. But they never wanted this. They are displeased by this--this--this way he is acting. They are not making him fear them and what they can do less by losing control in upset!
The storm isn't going away.
Right.
It is a problem. They are causing it. They can solve it regardless.
The red symbol veers over the mountains, but what has already built up strikes the mountain range, clouds moving around rather than climbing over as well. Towards the north, they slow to what Monzun knows will be a harmless stop. Towards the southeast, they continue on towards the villages. It weakens already, with only strong winds and mild lightning with its rain, but nevertheless, such can cause damage.
It is the village with the straw roofs in worst range, and Lethys is already prepared. The rest of what was said can be addressed another time.
"Protect your Village," they say intensely, going so far as to draw an arrow. It is crooked and messy compared to even his quick work before, but it gets the job done for indicating which they mean.
i literally don't remember what's there without looking!! dw dw we are freeballin it
Are they testing him? Is this a game to Monzun, like how their Creature seems to be insisting upon his Laetes?
Or are they truly so out of control?
Lethys is not certain which is more worrisome. But he draws a faintly-shining Shield over his Village, and some of the crackle of thunder seems a little more distant to those within. There is time for wondering, and there is the here and now.
His symbol trails back to Monzun right after, drawing up into their peripheral and insisting:
"Why test me? You know well that your strength surpasses mine."
Laetes is less than impressed by the horse landing in Sweetheart's mouth. Perhaps he hoped it might strike her in the face. If it's a game, it's a crude and ill-natured one.
He notices his master's Shield more than the storm itself. Ears flicking suddenly up, Laetes turns his face to the sky, sees the angry sky, and immediately stops everything he's doing to traipse directly under the bubble-like roof of the Spiritual Shield... if the tethered Leopard will let him.
=w=b
("Absolutely furious!")
("Deeply unhappy.")
("Seething!")
("Grieving.")
"--not well!" Monzun continues backwards at a comparative creep, from mountain to hill to nearly the beach.
Words stream out, a storm of themselves: "The clouds will continue over that--your Village but it should yet move on, and when it shall the momentum will perhaps damage some of mine houses but any lightning will more likely strike my forests instead, that is an easier loss to recover from," gods cannot run out of breath, but the wild pause may give such an impression, "and I will not be able to recover any of such for now, while I am over here, Lethys, I ask you tell Sweetheart to return home." Creature game cancelled, Sweetheart will be on the right territory and it will get him away from them right now.
The Creature spoken of was curious enough that she let it spoil her plans, as barely-thought-out as they were, only dipping to snag another horse in each paw before ambling along after Laetes.
She can't fit under the Shield standing up fully, so she only ducks a little and sticks her head in, heedless of the rain that spatters more sharply over the rest of her. Is something happening in here?
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Lethys can only imagine how formidable they were against Nemesis, if this is how they react to only a mention of his deeds. He does not spare too much thought on this. But how devastating their storms are, now, with the Creeds, he has yet to see.
But go tell? Command another god's Creature?
...
Laetes makes a candid rgh noise, and gestures one-handedly at the town protected behind him. The rest of Sweetheart's body shimmers wetly outside in the storm. Yes, there is something happening. Safety! - or at least an attempt at it.
It is at this point Lethys manifests over the two of them, closer to the ground, light beaconing against the dark clouds above.
"Disband," he tells them both, voice echoing to both of the Creatures and to none of the now-frightened villagers below. "You are to return to our Temple," he decrees to Laetes, and then turns to Sweetheart. "You..."
In their words.
"Home!" he instructs.
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She stretches one arm out to drop a horse in front of Laetes, freeing up a paw to point at her own chest.
A crack of thunder and lightning and the whole world goes white hot--
Sweetheart irritably staggers back and ruffles her flaming fur down. Did he...no, there was thunder. That was the storm. She's just tall. This isn't the first time it's happened. The rain is taking care of the fire she can't reach along her spine, too.
She crouches and goes back to pointing at herself.
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"Go!" he intructs Laetes. A Leash snaps between Laetes and the Temple, and Laetes turns in complete obedience and goes. No questions, no debate. There is no look behind. There is no check on Sweetheart's condition. Like a trained pawn, he simply switches off, turns, and goes.
Lightning flashes a little more distantly behind Lethys hovering above the bubble, and this time his command is more indignant.
"I carry orders from Monzun," he explains authoritatively. "Return home."
He cannot fathom how he could possibly make this clearer.
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She's never heeded another god's command before. If anything, she'd made points to ignore what she could comprehend.
But Lethys is not fighting.
But Monzun is not here.
One eye narrows, perhaps protecting from the rain as she looks up again. "...Why?"
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"Go!" he tries again. If he does not carry out Monzun's desires --
"Sweet," he tries, "-heart." Lethys tries out the wording, two words that he has never put together before. "Monzun commands it."
His symbol hovers, overly-intent.
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The use of her name jolts her. She starts to move, albeit slowly--and if she was a more bad-tempered Creature, perhaps she would kick at the Village she is picking through so carefully. But she is not, and she keeps her eyes on the buildings even as her ears swivel back to aim where Lethys hovers while she complains and questions further: "Why why why? Lethys? Why? Why?"
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But she is moving, so that's a success. He could not move her if she didn't want to be moved. He flits away quickly in case his presence distracts her from the task.
His symbol settles over a high point of the mountains, glittering. He maintains his Shield, though he finds he isn't certain how long his defenses will hold. It is his worshippers against Monzun's storm-power. Like before.
He is, at least, very visible. He is not making any attempts to take advantage of Monzun's... distraction. He wants to make this clear.
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... Mostly can't hurt. The storm is moving along in the same direction she is. Sweetheart stays crouched, getting lots of quizzical looks from humans brave enough to watch the weather from their windows.
Monzun is barely paying attention. Sweetheart was damaged, perhaps their own fault at urging Lethys on. They cannot care right now. They can heal her. After.
They fixate on staring across the sea.
Calm. Plan, if not calm.
There are other Lands, supposedly. Nemesis --
Khazar didn't seem overly attached to the Land he was battling over. If he was forced there, chased --
...They suspect he arose from another.
The rain clouds slowly drift over the water, sending the waves into a frothy mess.
Could they just...go? Streak across until they find another one? Missionaries had traveled in their name to somewhere, hadn't they?
Monzun is tempted to try.
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They don't seem to be doing anything. There is no whirl of rage unleased across the land, or sudden flurry of Miracle activity, or impressive action at the fringes of his own territory. They're just there. But their power leaves whorls in the clouds, and the wind and rain cuts down regardless.
He's not a stranger to intense reaction; fear and rage and desperation are not foreign to him. Nor is he a fool who is unable to put two and two together. He strongly suspects they are trying to defuse their turmoil in some unseen, internal way. What does it have to do with him?
...If they fail, perhaps a lot. Still, what can he do? Lethys is not their ally, not even close. His presence is more likely to make things worse than better.
...The fact he is considering all of this speaks volumes. He must do something.
Lethys lilts forward, hesitates, and steels himself. His symbol scores along the ridge of the mountain and beelines for Monzun, slowing to a deliberate crawl as he approaches.
He halts silently at their side. He can deduce where their line of sight lies, and follows it. They are far from the only one to stare out to the seas of Eden when their mind is racing.
He must say something.
"What is it you desire, Monzun?"
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They do not leave as much as the urge rises, rises, rises, and as he asks a question they are coming to deeply dislike.
They shouldn't, anyway. They were never one to flee from problems. Even if this is a very, very different problem than the battles of the past.
"I desire..." the truth, tired, blunt. "...the Guide to still be living. But I can do nothing about that."
(Quietly,
so quietly they do not know what fragment dares speak it:
"Yet.")
Monzun drags their thoughts to previous, and some of their focus to the god waiting so warily beside them.
There are other Lands. Monzun is a danger. These are simple facts, no matter how much they loathe the latter.
"...You...have not made another Temple in...the previous snowy Land." Nor others. I need time, he had said, or something similar. "Was it fear of...my...or his...retribution that kept you from there? Or are you kept away from there for other reasons?"
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The Guide? They wish him to live, yes, he can see why a god might favour such a beast - but for that to be the fuel for this rage?
Lethys cannot understand them. This, over a Creature, over one not even their own... Unfathomable. Confusion pivots into disgust and disdain, then into morbid curiosity, and before he knows it he is beginning to sift through the dustier corners of his memory for anything to compare this to, and the moment he catches it that book snaps shut quickly. The feeling mutes.
He does not try to understand. They have questions, besides.
"Should Nemesis have returned and found I had done nothing to advance his cause," he explains, "I would surely be punished." A beat. Lethys stares at the sea, whipped by the wind into frothy turbulence. "Should you have returned and found your Lands seized, the outcome would be the same. I faced a difficult choice." It is spoken simply. That was his truth.
"But I felt that Nemesis was no more. Now that you are here, I know I made the right one."
Perhaps they will dislike his pragmatism. Lethys finds he is too confused over their behaviour to play that guessing game, and simply waits quietly for their judgement.
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The future. The now. What Monzun can do, now, amidst the rumbling skies.
"Perhaps you should consider building another Temple there now."
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Lethys' attention snaps back into himself like the whip of coiled rope. He hadn't even meant to reach, that time. Perhaps it is this that makes him a little more eager to consider their words in earnest.
Caution. This must take caution.
His experience screams that this is a trap. But he is learning Monzun. They are different to Nemesis. Perhaps there is a chance.
"That is not the way of things," he says, testing. There is a sliver of doubt that does not quite make it into the words they hear.
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Monzun's tone stays fairly dead, though their distaste for the word 'banishment' comes through even now. It is more correct than previously assumed, and yet it seems so gutless.
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(The lurch at the realisation he might go back is not entirely unexpected. Perhaps it was relief at the chance to take another step away from the end. He silences it.)
Lethys, my ally, you have earned my favour. I have a present for you. What strings will Monzun attach? There are no other gods there for him to conquer in their name. What will they do with their Villages? ...Raze them, perhaps. Although that does not seem like their style, suddenly. He is listening when they say things like 'I do not desire...'
It is simply difficult to fully believe - especially with the storms battering at his Shields.
"...I see," is all he says. "Then I will... consider."
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Well.
"It would be wise."
There are fewer striking his Shields, now. The Storm on that side of the mountain has moved on as they predicted. There are fires in their forests, set and just as quicky quenched.
They know storms. Monzun has made them plenty of times, if only for the sake of occasional impressing with a dash of fearful awe while still keeping it on the harmless side. Their name is such for a reason. It feels terribly ironic, now, there is one running loose around them here.
"I do not plan to cause such. But I did not plan this. I expect you desire me to stop as much as I do," they say, sounding drained, sinking, sinking until the waves nearly clip the bottom of their symbol. "And here I expected our Creatures to be the highest concern this day."
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This is a far cry from the behaviour he is used to. Nemesis never faltered even once. Monzun has the power of the Creeds, yet here they are, faltering.
Once again he is reminded they are young. He knows now that their understanding of the world was never granted to them much further than the Guide and Khazar, and he knows each were permitted little time with their... student.
They are lost. This is key, even if he does not know how he ought to use it.
Slowly, easing into the thought:
"You are not the first god of Eden whose power outgrew them."
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Their tone holds a faintly skeptical edge, despite genuine belief in his actual words; Monzun's deeply limited experience leads them to presume Lethys refers to Nemesis. They do not trust in anything Nemesis may have done with his growing power.
"And how did this turn out?"