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As Gods Fall
In a time long ago; on the world of Pangaea, or as it is more commonly known; Earth. Gods and beasts empowered with magic roamed the lush and beautiful planet. A history lost, a history rewritten; now unfolds.
The story of us all begins with three. The Universe, The Darkness and The First Light. When The Darkness was bored and decided to slumber, The Universe created Life. But Life was not born alone. Sprung from nowhere at all Death appeared and it held Life’s hand, never to let go. The truest love there shall ever be. And through their love, a love that would become known by The Immortals as Lide, three daughters were born. Solari, Lunalu and Eara, they called them. They would grow into their Celestial bodies and become known as the sun, the moon and the earth. The convergence of the three sisters created a fourth, a late-bloomer, Thime, was her name. She was a free spirit, but before long even she learned her duties. Thime became the first seed upon Earth and the first step towards life on the planet. She would become known as the Tree of Thime and stand strong. Gifting the world the ability to grow. Everything that came after Thime, originated from the once-free-spirit. Influencing them. All craved freedom more than anything. It would take several thousands of years until Thime learned to evolve even further. When, out of necessity, she would become forced to leave the Tree of Thime when its fate would be decided. Instead, Thime became nature personified; most would come to know her as Mother Nature. But, even more deities were born before Thime earned her true role in the grand scheme of things. But that is a story for a different time. For this is not Thime’s story, not yet, at least.
The Gods were born from magic. The purest kind. And each deity was granted dominance over their own particular branch. And in every sense full control of their own domain. Their task was simple; nurture The Tree of Thime, and breathe life onto the planet called Earth, and so they did .. at first. The Gods would work together. And through them; nature and the animal kingdom flourished. They created many majestic things. Creatures that towered even over the vegetation of the planet itself. Some even as tall as mountains. But all lacked one thing that would separate them from all others. They could not take over the Gods’ tasks, for the Gods had grown tired and lazy. In the absence of Life and Death, the truest love there shall ever be; God-kin grew restless. They grew weary of their menial tasks. They craved a more leisurely life, they craved freedom; and so it happened. A young God by the name of Dolomius, had taken it upon himself to take charge of the Gods and devise a new plan. He fancied himself to be the first-born God and had dubbed himself “Father of the Gods, and King of the Gods”. Born from rock and thunder; none dared oppose him, and his brute force.
Hundreds of years went by, thousands, millions.. and finally; Dolomius’ plan came to full fruition. They had successfully created the perfect creature. One such creature was created in their own image. A plan devised by the self-proclaimed King of the Gods. A plan based on a dream he once had. A plan that would lead to freedom. Now, finally. The creature that would lead them there had been completed. And they had named it; a ‘human’, and with it, all of their hopes and dreams of leisurely freedom unlocked.
Out of their full bestiary. Humanity was the first of their creatures to be given the honor of speech and free will. They were designed to look like the Gods. Except for the eyes and ears. Where God-kin had sharply pointed ears; they had given humanity rounded ears. As for the eyes of the Gods .. well, let’s just say that their domains can be deduced by looking into them. The raging thunder, the deadly sea, the bewildered forests, and so much more. Eyes that were more than merely eyes. But worlds of their own.
Humanity would eventually become so popular among God-kin. Some would even bed them and create a brand-new offspring. At first frowned upon. But when even Dolomius could not help himself. The practice became normalized. And in time half of the human population were, in fact, descended from the Gods. Their ears were less pointy. So they could not be named God-kin, but neither were they rounded, and so humanity did not wish to claim them either. Instead, they would call themselves Demi-Gods. Named so after Demiis Roi’in. The first of the Demi-Gods to make a name for himself. And earn the respect of both God-kin and humanity. His role eventually was so enlarged, he would even earn the honor of sitting at the High Council. It is this historical moment that would eventually give the Gods courage, and hope. They knew now that their Demi-God offspring would be able to take over their own Godly duties. That they would be able to rule in their stead. They had hoped that the Demi-Gods would lead humanity into prosperity. And for many decades all was well. Humanity quickly learned to farm, to build, and to expand. It all happened fast, faster than even the Gods themselves had anticipated. But they could not be more rejoiced. For now, finally. They were able to take their long awaited vacation. Millenia they had craved to truly enjoy immortality. Finally they could depart to The White City, the City in the Clouds. Created by one of their own; Whiskwhisper, the God of Transportation.
But it did not take long for humanity to become too independent. How quickly they had forgotten who it was that had created them in the first place, and why. Now believing they were born to inherit the planet and rule it. They would form factions and create borders. They divided the continent, as if they owned it themselves and it was theirs to do with as they so pleased. Demi-Gods were relieved of their overseeing positions. And were instead forced to work for the increasingly aggressive humans. Forced into slavery, or worse.
Soon after; a group witnessed a carnivore devour another creature. Never before seen curiosity drove the humans to sit by and watch. Greedily they feasted their eyes as the carnivore filled its belly, and walked away. As soon as the beast had turned its back. Like scavengers they scurried towards the carcass. And had their first taste of flesh and blood. The vegetarians became herbivores, and so Hunters were born. Shortly after. A dispute between two different hunting groups erupted into a violent massacre. And War was born. Humans would follow another human into war, and a thirst for Power was born.
New Gods, born from the depravity of humanity, came into power. Hidden and invisible, specters and whispers; influencing every mortal that walked the continent.
This, and so much more, had all transpired while the Gods had left to live above the clouds. It was a majestic place, beyond the imagination of a mere mortal. Located in a pocket dimension within a bright white cloud. Only accessible by the Gods. Their offspring, and whomever they brought with them, or deemed worthy.
But, since God-kin were immortal, it compromised their sense of time. What seemed a few years to them was in fact several hundreds of years for humanity. And by the time the Gods felt their power wavering, weakening, it was already too late. Humanity had already grown too large, too independent, and too violent. While their own offspring, the Demi-Gods, had decreased in numbers drastically. Some were sold into slavery and died as slaves. Others were violently murdered while trying to escape their fate. The lucky ones could still lean upon a friendly human or two. But their lives were nothing to fight for, living in hiding. The truly desperate had cut off their own ears. Which tragically made themselves easier to spot by hunters. Humanity had created new Gods. Their own Gods. Gods that would become real due to the magic that still filled the earth and air. Magic that originated from The Tree of Thime. And empowered through their prayers. Humanity created Gods influenced by the Hunt, by Power and by War came. Selfish and greedy Gods. Gods who would come to rule humanity through manipulation. And plunge the planet into a state of perpetual fear for many countless forgotten years.
When the True Gods finally noticed their powers wavering. And looked down on Earth and their creation; they were appalled by the insult. Dolomius commanded The Gods, àll of The Gods, to come down and punish humanity.
Some Gods; such as Reoscilla, Goddess of Visions; would argue that “The humans are but children. Putting them on trial would be the right thing to do”, Reoscilla had said, naively. A thing she would come to regret.
“They have stepped out of bounds. This I can not tolerate. Now, they rule as Kings. But soon they shall be reminded who it is that truly has the power here on Eara”, The King of the Gods growled like a lion.
Yet, things did not go as planned. When Dolomius, King of the Gods. Opened the door connecting their pocket dimension to Earth. A bright light could be seen in the sky by the armies standing at the ready in the dirt and rain. The door stood open for a whole thirty minutes. But for humanity, those thirty minutes were forty-eight hours.
Terrified, humanity joined together for the first time in their God-less history. Arming themselves and pointing every ballistic weapon at their disposal towards the skies.
When The Gods finally descended down upon their former paradise. Humanity had agreed they would engulf the deities in a sea of arrows and spears; and so it came to be. With radiating light. The Gods left The White City and, for the first time in almost a million years, they descended back down upon Earth. The humans did not let their fear cloud their paranoia and they pigheadedly held to their plan. A pitch-black cloud of arrows and spears were shot at the descending God-kin. Every human nation had directed their attention towards the flying figures covered in a bright radiating light. The creators they had forgotten existed. Ignorant to who they truly were, the humans only saw a more superior creature, a threat to their rule. They joined forces, only to fight an enemy bigger than any one of them could handle by themselves. Only out of self-preservation could there be peace among them. If only momentarily.
Arrogant and angry. King Dolomius, Father of the Gods. Along with the four sons he created from lightning, thunder, rock and earth. Moved quick and fast as light itself. Taking the lead in the assault, ready to lay waste to those who would dare attack The Gods. Arrows and spears flew by and missed the charging Gods. Angry, Dolomius stopped and seemed to grow even more in size as his rage built up.
“YOU DARE ATTACK YOUR CREATORS!!!!??”, His voice roared like heavy thunder. Even the ground shook at his bellowing voice. As if it feared the wrath of the God that controlled it. But unbeknownst to Dolomius, nor the other Gods, they had all lost their immortality. You see, not one of the Gods had connected the dots. They did not realize that the loss of their power had been this severe. They had never even thought humanity to be capable of complete independence. Particularly in their Godly absence. That they would no longer need their creators, and least of all, that they would turn against them. They did not realize it until it was too late. Only three would escape. General Leorr, who realized the problem immediately. Had quickly saved The Twins, Velis and Vultis. The youngest of The Gods. By retreating with them to The White City; only they would escape the slaughter before it began.
Just as Dolomius was ready to blow the humans away, a catapulted spear pierced the father of the Gods’ eye. A wave of shock went through the army of The Gods. They had all stopped moving, all eyes were set on their leader who let out a mighty roar. But the humans, they cheered at their prized shot.
“Make them bleed!” One of the human soldiers shouted. The murderous rage in his voice had erased all aspects of any individual personality. “Make the Gods bleed!!”, the humans chanted together.
But the father of the Gods was unmoved, unfazed. He roared again, which made the earth shake even more. Cracks appeared in the ground, taking dozens of humans with them. As if the earth itself devoured them. Dolomius then pulled the spear out with a grunt, and threw it back down; impaling, and killing, five humans. A grin appeared on the God’s face. But it quickly turned to shock, and despair. Just a little north of the enemies he had just slain. There laid his sons. All four. All dead on the ground. Hopelessness crept into the mind of the Father of the Gods.
Domius, the eldest. Had been completely run through by arrows and spears. He had clearly realized the danger before his brothers and had served as their shield. Dotwius lay right next to his twin brother, his limbs torn off. Dotrius and Doquatrius laid in the middle of a pile of dead humans. The two husky colossals had tried to avenge their fallen brothers. And in the attempt lost their own lives, but not before taking several dozens of humans with them.
“How? How could this happen? Why? We have given you life, a home … you’ve taken my sons.. my will of being ..”. The father of the Gods’ voice now soft and broken. Dolomius looked around one last time, as terror and hopelessness took a hold of the mighty God’s mind. All he could see was death. He was their leader, he had to do something. But the only thing the King of the Gods could think of; was to be with his sons.
Gods were falling out of the sky by the hundreds, humanity was jeering. Fallen Gods were immediately swarmed by dozens of humans. Stabbed and pulled apart. Death screams filled the air. “What have we done…”, Reoscilla screamed. “...what have we created..”, the wounded Goddess stood amid the battlefield, “w..w..we have to leave, we must leave”, and some did. She watched groups of God-kin band together. Backs-to-backs, using what little magic they had left. Fighting off hordes of violent, bloodthirsty humans. Dozens would escape, while a select few would stay behind to sacrifice themselves. But not Dolomius. The Father of the Gods, her King, was being torn to pieces as he sat to mourn his fallen sons. Too heartbroken to even put up a struggle, and not even a single scream of pain. Only tears for the sons he lost. The last image Reoscilla would ever see. The Goddess of Visions' innocence ravaged by hordes of violent bloodthirsty men. Until her dying breath.