then it becomes, it becomes, it becomes a problem, then--

[monzun]

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 something.

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.

Comments

[lethys]

Sharply:

"What else?"

He continues in an adamant tone, like they ought to know...

"The Void. Beyond the Veil, the long, dark sleep of the gods - you may call it whatever thing you please!"

...But maybe they don't.

He relents a little. And paints, quickly - in glimmering reams of blue, directly against the cliff face: little figures, people, arms raised.

"Before the first prayer --"

A light above them, like the sun.

Then a vertical line, to separate all this from whatever sits beyond it. Another light. Dimmer. The ripple of Gesture lines slowly settles the spiky glow-outline into something much duller, until it's a meaningless circle.

"--and after the last."

The Gesture resembles something little more delicate than cave paintings, but he is in an exasperated hurry. Apparently he is capable of a touch finer detail than they're used to.

It fades the same as ever, a little while after he finishes.

He waits, looking for any sign of recognition or understanding from Monzun. Surely?

[monzun]

Monzun slides away from the stalking Sweetheart to more closely observe Lethys' motion, enraptured. They do not know the details, nor did they realize a god could make...this. A story, almost, in Gesture.

"I suspected that is what you meant. Khazar did not have time to teach me such things before he was killed--returned there," they answer quietly.

Their Hand hovers over the cliff, long after the blue light has vanished.

"Is it the same for Creatures? When they are gone?" Monzun asks, a strained note to their words.

[lethys]

"That is your concern?" he asks in disbelief.

But it is not so surprising that Monzun might wonder. Certainly gods can become quite attached to their Creatures. It is not as if Lethys himself has never wondered even once, when it comes to Laetes...

"I cannot answer that question. I have never lost a Creature, nor known any god who..." ...outlived theirs.

And a few things are now becoming clear that Lethys overlooked.

Khazar didn't have time to teach them, no, but surely someone must have told them, or let slip...

"From where did you hail," he begins carefully, "before you came to my-- the realm in which we battled?"

Further ahead of the drifting gods, Laetes is trotting faithfully in front, pleased to at last have a clear task. He is to mind Sweetheart, and to keep her from trouble, he has decided that he will do the directing of where and what to eat. As the plains open out in front of them, Laetes is heedless of the gigantic Leopard's attempts to be a stealthy hunter. He merely beelines for one of the herds the villagers keep.

(Hearing the pounding of paws, a nearby shepherd braces herself for a day of rounding up scattered horses.)

[monzun]

Sweetheart is letting Laetes go ahead, but she takes a moment to stand and speed up until she's nearly at his side again. "Laetes!" she hisses excitedly, in word and between fangs. She dips down again. "...Chase it!"

"It is. We have many differing priorities," Monzun says flatly.

An odd question he gives in response, and reluctant to answer, but--had they not asked him the same back on their very first meeting? It is their home. They are still lingering in his home. Or had to chase him from his, although they cannot regret it properly.

"A far warmer Land--you know of it," they interrupt themselves. "You opened a Vortex there from here, to find the Creed that yet rested in a different Creature's bones."

Their tone re-warms, albeit briefly. "That was a Creature we found when we were very young...The Guide, we called him. He taught us much! Of Miracles and what Creatures can do and other such secrets of godliness. Before, of course," they Gesture again, the lines of a five-pointed shape they dissipate before it could potentially become something, "Nemesis killed him."

[lethys]

Laetes makes a disgruntled noise and glances over his shoulder at her, lip curled. Chase? It is bad enough she made him spend effort on Healing for no apparent reason! What is the point in wasting his energy?

A smarter Wolf might suspect this was her plan all along, in some sinister game to catch him exhausted. Luckily, Laetes has not been taught to question things all that much. He just points and makes a toothy face at her. He is getting one. Don't rush him!

...He breaks into a slow trot. He is not running. He is wandering into a larder and taking things.

The horses begin to scatter, though with the stride of a Creature - even one smaller than Sweetheart - it doesn't look like they'll get far. This is not exactly how "real" wolves hunt...

"You are from there?" clarifies Lethys. "You travelled no other Lands before that one?"

He had begun to suspect. And wiping out Monzun - if he'd managed - would have been no different to any other young god he or Nemesis may have conquered.

And yet. If he had managed... Gods do not feel the cold as men do, but a chill touches Lethys nonetheless. His symbol jerks oddly to the side, like a flinch, as they begin to trace a star. It is enough to change his train of thought before it holds fast, which may be a good thing.

"I know of that Creature," he says. "I do not know if he was Nemesis' first. But he was old." A very slight pause. "Wise," he admits, too. "Much knowledge will have followed him to the grave."

[monzun]

"I was called from the skies--and the Void on those very shores," they confirm. "And I destroyed its multitude of inflicted curses when I made my way back after Nemesis' incursion. It is my Land." Monzun is not terribly possessive over the rest they now rule, though they would prefer those people and lands to be well; but that place is different. It is home.

Monzun had not ever considered that the Guide could have been a different Creature than Nemesis' first. But it is true, he may not have been. Others may have been killed. That one, tossed aside, forgotten until Monzun called attention back...

("No, no, that wasn't our fault. He volunteered his knowledge to us. It was his choice to do so.")

Cold comfort, unlike the air, heavier and warmer than it should be so high above the earth.

"That almighty fool! Exiling such an ancient and noble beast, let alone killing--!" It is raining, suddenly. The skies were clear before, were they not?

[lethys]

That settles it. Young - younger than Lethys thought, or really considered. He hadn't given Monzun much thought back then - another light had simply appeared on the battlefield, and Lethys had his instructions, clear as day and simple enough. They made his work more difficult, but young gods were weaker and less defined. He should have been able to crush them both, allied or not.

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.

[monzun]

Nemesis is gone. The reminder strikes true as a hunter's arrow a bird from the sky. The symbol shudders and sinks.

"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.

[lethys]

How blunt. A god smites, or eradicates. Monzun prefers kill. It feels too personal for his liking - but perhaps Nemesis would have appreciated that wording. Between the two, it may well have been so personal, in the end. Lethys dares not imagine.

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

[monzun]

Sweetheart is slightly distracted by a distant whiff of ozone. Her God likes Storms, sometimes, but usually sticks to smaller, less dangerous ones. What's going on over there...?

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

[lethys]

He understands now where their Creature gets her behaviour from.

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

[monzun]

"Test you?" The rain is still falling in sheets. "I am--"

("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?

[lethys]

His second guess was correct. Monzun is younger than he thought, and that means they lack control.

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.

[monzun]

Sweetheart's head whips back out to stare up. Lethys? Talking to...her?

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.

[lethys]

Lethys does not flinch. Lightning and thunder and fire and brimstone can do nothing to him; he has no body to be damaged. Out here, the damage is to Sweetheart, and this concerns a rival god none.

"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.

[monzun]

Laetes is watched until he disappears around the mountains, and only then Sweetheart glances towards Monzun's Temple. She understands the words spoken... Maybe?

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?"

[lethys]

A Creature who does not obey - immediately obey - Lethys does not have time! He does not have the rapport. She must obey.

"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.

[monzun]

Oh!

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?"