monzun: (Default)
monzun ([personal profile] monzun) wrote in [community profile] 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.

 

 

 

 

redprayer: (i'm gonna make you mine)

[personal profile] redprayer 2025-05-07 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Coming back to life is much like waking up from a long, dreamless slumber.

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.
redprayer: (i know who you are now)

[personal profile] redprayer 2025-05-12 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
The voice reverberates inside of him in a way that's unpleasantly reminiscent of the moment Lord Ruby Eye first spoke to him directly. And yet this being's voice isn't anywhere near as harsh, though it still overwhelms. It doesn't feel like any mazoku he's ever met. But then, what could it...?

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.
redprayer: (the sun will turn dark very soon)

[personal profile] redprayer 2025-06-09 11:56 am (UTC)(link)
The beast is growling-

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?"
redprayer: (i know who you are now)

let's go with naked. i don't think sweetheart will be too scandalized.

[personal profile] redprayer 2025-06-16 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
Rezo has to mull their words over, which is a laborious process given his current state of overwhelm. On a purely physical level he'd much rather just keep burrowing into the creature's paws and let its purring drown out any thoughts, but both survival instincts and logical reasoning tell him it would be unwise to ignore a god.

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.
redprayer: (Default)

[personal profile] redprayer 2025-06-20 08:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Of all the answers Rezo could have predicted, the last one would have been something like that. He might have disrespected the god with an incredulous scoff if he weren't so confused. To live here in peace? He doesn't even know where 'here' is.

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.
redprayer: (it's a lonely end that you will come to)

[personal profile] redprayer 2025-06-30 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Rezo actually hadn't considered that Monzun might harm him for following Cepheid, but he can hardly manage to worry or not worry about that when he's jarred by Monzun's question.

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.
Edited 2025-06-30 15:48 (UTC)
redprayer: (the sun will turn dark very soon)

[personal profile] redprayer 2025-07-06 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
A terrible war is an all-too familiar tale to Rezo, but the last part makes Rezo's blood run cold.

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?"
redprayer: (Default)

[personal profile] redprayer 2025-07-07 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Rezo gets an odd sense in his stomach as he feels himself going down, down, down, until quite suddenly he feels grass tickling his feet and ankles, solid earth beneath him. He stumbles as the beast lets go of him, and he has to grab onto its foot to keep from falling over.

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...