Godhood
CAPRICE:
For one wondrous dark moment, Caprice closes her eyes and imagines
returning to the world, to Grandmere, to Hari?
But no, Hari has fallen, just as Bel and Persifal fell, as the Gods
fell ... they are gone, all of them, and neither Hari nor any of those others
who were greatly loved on the battlefield will return unless someone is
there to answer the call to restore their souls.
A selfish thought: I want to go back. I want to be with Hari. Someone
else will take up that mantle.
But such a thought cannot be trusted.
As Grandmere says, if you want something done right, you must do it
yourself. Caprice opens her eyes and her mouth, practically choking on the
rush of divine blood that tastes like ash. She trusts Hari will understand, if he chooses to return to Samru. If someone tries to restore him.
No longer capricious, she chooses a name that will be easy to remember for those who have loved and lost, whether child or parent, lover or friend. For those who have made choices that they regret.
Caprice becomes Rue.
ELIANORA:
Elianora stands drained on the battlefield, the tip of her sword resting limply on the ground. She closes her eyes and bows her head away from the supernatural rain, two powerful chords of duty warring (as ever) within her soul. She feels the needs of the shattered world, the void in need of filling, the pull of power. She knows that she is no longer human, that she can never truly have a normal life again. She knows that her driving purpose, her holy service to Bel, is ended. She knows that her children are stronger than she ever guessed, and that they are surrounded by good and worthy guardians and advisors.
She raises her head, looks out into the otherworldly void, and wonders what might have been as she slowly wipes the precious blood from her lips.
She sheaths her sword and pivots slowly on her heel in a daze, looking across the mortal battlefield for her three sons.
MINIMIN:
Minimin looks at the waste of the otherworldly battleground. There are no words that describe his feelings. Why can't he think of any words? He
sits down heavily in the gore and stares numbly. Some vague amount of time
passes before he has a realization.
"I'm in shock."
"No, I'm not or I wouldn't be able to realize that."
"Just keep thinking, pal, that's what you do best."
"I am so damned tired. I have never felt this used up before."
As his mind regains it's hold he begins to recognize what his surroundings offer. His detection spells go wild with the power that literally oozes across the ground. Arcane, divine, and that weird ability that Pip practically glows with as well as some things that defy any categorization. It all impacts on his mind in waves of color, smell, taste and a queer cold/burning sensation.
He dips his finger in some nearby goo and raises it to his nose. That
little sniff blinds/chokes/freezes him and he shudders with its raw energy.
"Gawd! What'd you expect you damn idiot? That's probably Mock's shit or Bel's brains or something."
"Of course, I've eaten worse to get the job done."
"I could make the leap. I'm smart enough to have lived through this so why shouldn't I?"
In the end it's his senses that decide for him when they tell him that his
hands have been badly seared by the shattering of Chrystostom's staff. What he is seeing suddenly reaches through to his emotions and he empties his stomach. His head throbs and his mind feels scoured clean of any stored arcane energy. He spits the remaining gore from his lips.
"I don't understand the rules here. I don't like what I do understand. I'm twenty-one and I'm not gonna chuck it all just 'cause people are more concerned with believing than living, damn it! This place is NOT my problem."
"Besides, I'd never get laid again."
Min isn't sorry at all to watch the otherworldly gore fade into a more
recognizable, if equally awful, battlefield in familiar Samru. He gets stiffly to his feet and peers through the smoke and fumes looking for recognizable faces. He staggers along, fearing that he is left alone in the world and beginning to have doubts when he is pounced upon by Aubrey, in panther form. Min is blinded by tears for a moment.
"You lived. I'm so glad to see you, Aubrey. Where are the others?" Then quickly, "Are there others?"
Aubrey's keener senses lead him to the Herald and the Raventree boys. Min looks up at the Herald and drops his detection spells one after another, wanting no reminders of what he's left behind him. He sighs wearily and
bows his head to the new Dominarch and his Protector.
"I am at your service, my lords."
VALERE:
The geyer of holy blood erupts, and the world spins. Fatigue from the
battle, from what he has seen and done pass through the Paladin
causing the world to swirl around him. He waivers unsteadily for a
moment, then in one more heroic effort, finds strength in his legs and
stands fully upright, ready to face whatever comes.
He feels the weight of the world upon him. Bel dead. The force that
saved him, the force that he dedicated his life to in that dim past... was it only 3 years ago? ... gone in an instant. A heroic victory and a tragic defeat all in one day.
The pull to fill the void is great. His sense of duty to his pledged purpose urging him to step forward, to do what he can to fill the vacuum left by the death of Bel, and the other young Gods.
He sees Caprice drink of the golden liquid, and turn into something else before his eyes.
He sees Minimin turn away, renewing his allegience to the Dominarch.
And finally he sees Elianora, the love of his life, turn away in search of her sons. And he knew she had to do that, for that is who she is at her core. That is the reason that she has come so far and accomplished so much. For the love of her sons. She could do nothing else.
Valere, still weilding the burning Fire, turns his face upward, watching the golden liquid descend from the sky and falling on his face.
His sense of duty is overwhelming. He must continue to serve the purpose to which he devoted his life. He can continue to serve this world, serve good, and propogate the light and the fire for generations to come.
He calls out to Elianora, not knowing if she hears him any longer. "My love for you is true. But my duty to this world, to continue the work I have started, is all consuming. I will love you always, and when you pass into the spirit realm, know that I will be there waiting for you."
He opens his mouth and drinks deeply of the holy blood, claming for
his own those who have desire and passion, for life, for duty, for the good of mankind - passion and desire tempered by love. He is the heat of desire, the conflagration of passion, and the hot burning fire of Love. He becomes Sol, fire and light, passion and love.
PIP:
"They're gone...." thinks Pip to himself in that eternal moment. "The beautiful children that have shaped our lives are no more. What will replace them? Us?" He pauses as the enormity of the choice sets in. "Me? A god? What would I be the god of? Kicking down doors? Lost causes? Moody half-blind artists? I know....shirked husbandly duties. I'd be the first god to start with a follower deficit as Amandiel burns down my only church."
"Amandiel."
Pip wipes his lips. "That's not a choice."
The battlefield returns to focus and Pip soaks in the carnage. "Besides," he mumbles to himself as he takes in the terrible sight, "godhood looks pretty overrated from where I'm standing." He shudders and turns away to begin looking for survivors.
Pip tentatively tries his mental connection to the group. *Anyone still here?*
FINALE:
Minimin, Pip, and Elianora all rejoin with The Destined King and the
Hero's Companion, at which point The Herald nods approvingly and breaks into a flock of mixed doves and ravens, the black and white of his motley, and flies in all directions across the sky.
END OF CAMPAIGN
