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boxfullofzeroes2025-04-28 07:11 am
∞
Monzun has been trying their Hand at a little necromancy.
Some gods had skill in that, but Monzun had only known those as enemies; otherwise, humanity itself had better luck in reviving themselves through spiritual means. It’s a skill they find tricky at best. Healing the body is only part of it. The ‘spirit’ (or ‘soul’ or ‘life force’ or ‘ghost’, for just a few mortal terms) is just as necessary.
The Void is distant, but some of the spirits of humanity appear to reach for it. Monzun’s first successes caught such spirits and forced them back into their bodies before they could be left behind, with the memories of what they were trying to reach for gone when commanded to explain.
Generations pass.
Monzun’s reach extends agonizingly slowly.
If anything, learning to conjure bodies for spirits may go against the revival of gods lost to the Void…but any skill has its use. Mortals are exceedingly grateful for revival. Faith spreads and empowers their Creed-boosted capabilities even higher.
Monzun continues trying.
(If there is any god that chose to reign over death, they have yet to show their Hand or anything else at Monzun’s interference. The crueler, more paranoid part of them expects retaliation eventually. The kinder part of them wonders if they should eventually take on this duty, with how terrified so many seem to be of it. But this is all for later.)
Eventually, they find their reach beyond anything they have yet to know. Still far short of finding lost gods, but still encouraging.
A lost soul.
They bring their holy fingers around it and Heal and build and read its memories, growing a skeleton and wrapping it in all its needed parts for functionality.
Monzun comes back to the world in the shadow of their Temple holding a very odd man, their massive Leopard Creature standing to sniff and prod at him.
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He's wrapped in something, constricted and suspended by a warmth that makes his skin buzz. For a few long moments, Rezo has no feelings about his circumstances, only physical awareness. This gradually turns into confusion, particularly when he feels something hairy poke at his head. Which is also accompanied by whooshes of air that have a fetid smell, akin to a fish market or a butcher's. Rather like...
"Ghh-"
...Rather like the breath of a giant carnivorous beast, actually!
Rezo stiffens. His animal instincts take over, and without consciously deciding to do so he tries playing dead.
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"Rezo Greywords," they say ponderously, words pouring over his mind like warm spring rain.
Their Creature pulls away a little, only to pluck him from their Hand and into her furry paws entirely. She is quite gentle, thousands of people, even children, having been held the same.
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He scarcely has time to wonder before he feels large, soft paws envelop him. It feels akin to being picked up by an array of warm cushions made from soft leather, with fur in between each cushion. This must be the beast that was sniffing at him. Rezo doesn't bother resisting, and he isn't even sure he can.
Summoning what courage and wit he can scrape together, Rezo asks "Who... Who are you?"
As he speaks, he begins to tremble. When he realizes this, he feels a surge of irritation at himself for such an unhelpful reaction.
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As dramatic as these words are, the tone comes with little gravitas; they're simply pleased that they managed to bring a soul back from so far.
Sweetheart feels him shake and immediately starts petting him, a purr reverberating through all of her and into his bones. It's alright, little human! Safe, safe, safe.
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Wait.
It's purring. The vibrations seem to go right through him, quelling his own trembling in their wake and leaving him limp. He sinks back against the pads of the beast's paws, accepting the way it caresses his head with little but internal incredulity at the sheer strangeness of the situation. As if he were the cat here!
"Mon... zun..."
Oddly, he believes them. Such a presence couldn't be anything less than a God, though he cannot sense if they're aligned with light or darkness. Although...
"I have never heard of you," he says. It's an absent remark, one that might be missed under the sound of the beast's purring. Rezo doesn't mean it as an insult- the closest to a God of the rainstorm might be Aqualord Ragradia, and he is long dead but for echoes and memories. Just as the divine Cepheid is.
Everything is backwards about this situation. A living god, a living Rezo, and a giant cat is petting him.
"What in- what is going on?"
i honestly have no idea if he's wearing clothes or not here.
"I reached beyond the world into the darkness and I found your spirit. I re-formed your body, and now I welcome your--" they cannot say your return this time! "--you, to my Lands."
...Ah. But now, what to do? Monzun often simply dropped the revived back in the nearest village that they seemed to be most likely descended from. With his pale skin and flower-shaded hair, he doesn't look like any of their people at all. They hadn't considered this.
let's go with naked. i don't think sweetheart will be too scandalized.
If they don't know him, why go to the effort of reviving him? He fears this may have something to do with his connection to Lord Ruby Eye, but even as he thinks this he realizes...
He can't feel Lord Ruby Eye. Where once there had been a red presence, now he has a sense of emptiness.
Rezo slams the brakes on any attempt to even begin processing whatever feelings he has on that. An odd feeling doesn't prove anything. The Dark Lord can be a very subtle thing. He has survived being fragmented, sealed inside a soul for five thousand years, and being eviscerated with the raw power of the Sea of Chaos herself. Certainly, Lord Ruby Eye is more durable than Rezo, and Rezo's the one here and alive and-!
And he should probably address the reason for his being here.
"...What service do you require of me?" His tone is very careful, neither resentful nor fawning.
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They circle Sweetheart and their Temple, absently observing the people singing and chanting worship in their name between its spokes. There are less than there once needed to be, and a majority are children that are too old for the creche but too young for keeping the Villages functional. They take a moment to conjure some a rain of food for one, all dropping in a pile with a life-giving hiss and scurrying and no few childrens' giggles.
Monzun does not yet know what brought Rezo Greywords and not any other within their reach, though it may be mere coincidence. Still, information gathering is always for the better, along with knowing where to place him. "Tell me of the Land you came from and your role there."
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For a time, Rezo is silent. Perhaps it's because of the silence that he's able to hear distant drumbeats. Voices? It's jarring to realize there truly are other people out there, unaware that Rezo is here and in the grasp of a god. Are they living peaceful lives like Monzun claims to want for him?
Monzun speaks again, and Rezo finds the order oddly calming. Whether he passes or fails, it's still reassuring to have a test laid in front of him. It's a little like having a goal to hang onto. But how does he explain his role?
"I was... a priest of Flare Dragon Cepheid."
A poor one. And a vessel of Lord Ruby Eye.
"I traveled the Barrier Lands working as a healer in the name of the Gods."
Searching for greater and greater power.
"I was also a senior member of the Sorcerer's Guild, and I taught others of the different schools of magic I had learned."
It was a useful way to find and train underlings for the pursuit of my personal goals.
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Frustrating, but after Nemesis' horrifically cursing their own land for generations when they were gone for a measly century or so, they can extend sympathy. Gods, plural, indicates his peoples' allegiances changed often.
"You sound most loyal to your Flame Dragon Cepheid. I do not intend anything dangerous to you for following that god," they assure in soothing cant. "I would like to know of them, and of your healing."
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How... How does someone not know of Flare Dragon Cepheid? He's Cepheid.
But then, Rezo hadn't known of Monzun.
Rezo takes a breath and thinks of all the times he's been called upon to tell the stories of Cepheid, particularly to children young enough that Cepheid was still little more than a strange statue that the adults would gather around. And he dutifully begins to explain.
"There are many stories told of how Cepheid and his counterpart, Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, came to be. When I was a child I was told that they were born from the clashing of powerful astral energy within the Sea of Chaos that surrounds the world. Cepheid loved the world and sought to protect it, while Lord Ruby Eye hated the world and sought its destruction. And while Cepheid was nourished by the love of humanity, Lord Ruby Eye fed upon their pain.
"From primordial times the two have battled over the fate of the world. Cepheid was aided by his servants, the holy dragons, while Lord Ruby Eye created powerful demons. Their final battle occurred thousands of years ago, when Cepheid was finally able to break Lord Ruby Eye into seven pieces and seal those pieces away.
"Having neutralized his enemy, Flare Dragon Cepheid used the last of his strength to create the other four gods of our world. These are the Dragon Kings: Aqualord Ragradia, the Water Dragon King of the North; Flarelord Vrabazard, the Fire Dragon King of the East; Airlord Valwin, the Wind Dragon King of the West; and Earthlord Vangort, the Earth Dragon King of the South.
"After creating the Dragon Kings, Cepheid sank into the Sea of Chaos. But though he was killed, he did not entirely die. His power and presence still lingers in the world, and the Dragon Kings and the holy dragons keep vigil over the world in the event of Lord Ruby Eye's revival. And the gods and the demons continue to fight over the world to this day."
Rezo hasn't gotten into how he himself fits into all this, even on a cursory level, let alone told Monzun of his work as a healer. But that's already quite a bit of information to digest, if Monzun truly has no background in all of this.
...pretend they said Flare Dragon in that last one. my mistake, not theirs hgfdj
Parts of this tale are familiar. Old as time, old as cycles, old as gods being cruel and kind. The destruction of all seems pointless, however, and either a misunderstanding of humanity or of Monzun--they naturally presume the former. What is a God without...well, anything? People, at least, even if only seen as easily-killed and replaced fodder, are necessary for existing.
This is a weakness most gods would not admit to. Certainly Monzun has not, and they are less fearful or arrogant, they believe, than 'Lord Ruby Eye'--or Nemesis, as they naturally draw parallels to.
A god that died but did not die is just as doubtful. Gods that fought in the Void itself piques their interest heavily, however. And humans, for all their faults and fragility, have their own power...
If a priest of a dead god is here...perhaps he can be more helpful than only for practicing their own revival skills.
"I do not know of any of these gods." They aren't certain what a 'dragon' even is. Some of their people claimed these things should be slain in Monzun's name. So they appear to be something frightening. Something that almost sounds like a Creature.
...What rule is it that a god needs to have only a single Creature in the first place? Nemesis had the Guide and Ichor--and the Ogres, were those Creatures, or demons?
("Hey! Don't besmirch my bad name!" their cruel conscience chides.)
"And I believe I know why," Monzun says heavily. "There has been a terrible war, and much history and the gods are gone."
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Gone?
The Dragon Kings, all gone? And what of Lord Ruby Eye's five retainers?
Yet it's not impossible. Gods and dark gods can be killed. The last that Rezo had heard, not only was Cepheid dead, but so was Ragradia.
And- Rezo reflects- during the terrible events of the Incarnation War, the demons had ensured the people of the Barrier Lands loss access to the holy magic that called upon the gods' power. Rezo himself only knows a handful of holy magic spells, gained from over many decades of research and delving into ancient ruins. And he's never been able to use them.
But he does know a great deal of black magic.
"I need to test something," Rezo says abruptly.
Rezo squirms, attempting to sit up or get a proper hold on one of the creature's toes(?) but going still again as he remembers that he's not actually sure how far off the ground he is.
"Er. Would you ask your beast to put me down?"
Tagging from work's questionable wifi
"If you like," Monzun answers curiously.
A sound cracks through the air like the snapping of massive fingers--as that is exactly what it is, directing Sweetheart to place him down in the grass at her feet. The many, many storeys of height down it is.
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It takes him another minute to catch his breath and his balance. Once he feels somewhat ready, he cautiously lets go and takes a few steps away from the beast.
He's not sure where Monzun is in relation to him, and rather suspects that the answer is irrelevant, but he nevertheless tilts his head upwards to address them.
"Th-thank you." Best to be polite, especially considering his next request.
"I'd like to try casting a few spells. Is there something I can use as a target? Preferably large, that won't cause too much trouble if it's destroyed." He makes a little hem hem noise and adds "And unless standards have changed considerably since I was alive, I shouldn't go near other people until I'm wearing something."
They brought him back from death, so surely Monzun can conjure up a robe or something...