∞

[monzun]

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[redprayer]

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.

[monzun]

A human cannot hide their mental state from a god. It doesn't matter his eyes are shut; they were always shut and unseeing, so in memory and so in the reconstruction. Monzun can tell his playing dead as plainly as if it were written above his head.

"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.

[redprayer]

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.

[monzun]

"I am Monzun, God of the rainstorm and the Lands they fall upon," Monzun answers. They do not bother to demonstrate this, as the nearby fields and forests are doing well enough.

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.

[redprayer]

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?"

i honestly have no idea if he's wearing clothes or not here.

[monzun]

"As I have never heard of you!" they return lightly. Some humans reincarnate enough Monzun simply knows them. This Rezo is distinct; had he crossed their Lands before, they would have made note at one time or another, surely.

"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.

[redprayer]

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.