Epilogue
Ovek stared at the empty dark abyss that made up the ceiling of his domain. The God of Chaos lay on his back, his hands running along the grains of black sand beneath him. He cupped the sand, lifted his hands and released the dust. He watched it trickle between his fingers with the darkness above serving as a backdrop. Suddenly the grains of dust froze midair, trapped between the future and the past without the existence of the present. Trapped within moments.
Ovek groaned as he heard a sharp exhale from behind him.
"Nielda." "Ovek."
He heard another sharp intake of breath followed by a loud exhale that morphed into a groan.
"Resume the play of time, I like the sound the sand makes when it meets itself as it drops." Ovek said, letting go of the top of the frozen sand and spreading his arms to either side. He still hadn't faced Nielda.
"I'm not exiting my domain for your silly indulgences." Nielda said and Ovek sighed. "Meena summoned me, can you imagine the audacity of that woman? Plucked me out of the sky like I was some.. Some-" "Some bird." Ovek interrupted with a smile.
"Don't you mock me, Ovek. The two of you treat me with no respect at all. I should just go ahead and speed up time for the both of you, until your essences turn to ash and dust." Nielda said.
Ovek's smile vanished. He always says that, always claims he has the ability to kill the Gods at a whim. 'Fast forward them to their fates.' Is what he calls it. Ovek always thought Nielda was bluffing. But I saw it with my own eyes, saw how he trapped Locha in that time loop so that Nyawe could bond him and distract him long enough for us to split him. Ovek remembered the weight of Locha's purest essence as he dragged it beyond Oblivion's Gate.
"Locha is back." Nielda said, causing Ovek to turn and face him for the first time. Ovek saw the constellations doting Nielda's black skin, how they'd dulled in their brilliance spoke of how weary the God was. Meena, see the consequences of your actions. Gods are nothing without our worshippers, you knew this too well. "Meena told me this, she showed me where he wounded her too." Nielda continued.
Ovek curled his fingers into fists. "How did he get out?"
Nielda waved a hand. "Who cares how? Meena didn't tell me but I'm certain it has to do with her prison, she let him slip through the hearts of men. Maybe that's why she stole our worshippers, thinking if they worshipped her their hearts will never turn to the void. The self centered bitch. I predicted this."
Ovek chuckled. "I've missed you Nielda, you and your sass."
"Sass? Several thousand years away, I come back and suddenly the whole language has changed. Recently I learnt I'm a Diva, a sort of play on the word 'Divine. '" Nielda almost smiled as he talked. Ovek wondered at that. "Anyway, I will not waste your time. We have to reach Alietsi, the time for petty squabbles is done with, for now. We have to unite against the bringer of endless night."
"I wonder why Meena didn't summon me." Ovek said and went back to lying on his back.
"Fight off Nyawe's effects. She is also back. We thought she would never return, that there was no way she could. I can feel her presence, bonded completely to a mortal. She always finds away." Nielda said, his tone flat.
Ovek scoffed. "I know you want to volunteer to travel the depths of the seas in search of Alietsi. You're just using Nyawe as a means to introduce this task."
"Volunteer? Now listen here, Chaos. I do not like the weight of that water above me. I prefer the open skies where at least the darkness doesn't carry any weight. Those ocean depths are ever a strain. However-" Ovek chuckled but Nielda ignored him and continued. "I see the need for Alietsi, the weight of her punches reverberated across this whole planet and Locha shattered beneath them."
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"She won't be enough." Ovek said. "We aren't enough. We need the banished God." Nielda hissed.
"Locha almost overcame us the other time. And now Locha has spent an eternity in solitude, feeding his passions with the desire for vengeance and strengthening his will. We can't stop him on our own." Ovek said and Nielda groaned. You see that I'm right, old friend. "We need the banished God." He repeated.
"He has been away for too long, he has split his personality to ward of boredom and now rules the continent of Basi Haya. An entire continent full of that despicable race."
"They used to worship me."
"Of course they did. Why do you think it was so easy for Sin to seduce them? He has a champion, stronger than ours combined."
"He can't have seven champions." Ovek said.
"I know." Nielda turned and spat on the black sand. The sand fizzled beneath the spit. "Just one."
"We need both of them."
"I know Ovek, I just fucking hate Dragons, they always think the sky is theirs. Thank God for Alietsi's
Rankf Leviathans."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
An infant Dragon's black scales, he wore it like scaled armor, his grey green skin looking pale where the gleaming dragon scale armor failed to cover. The temperature was at freezing point and frost formed around his eyes, his breath plumed a white mist and not a shiver raked his body. He was oblivious of the continuous height the dragon was climbing, his vertically slit dark pupils stayed fixed on the diminishing ground far beneath where he stood. Where an army of three hundred thousand had gathered to challenge him, cursing his existence and mocking him with obscene words... forgotten words.
"War leader, if we climb any further I'm afraid I will die." Celyd said in between shivers. His teeth chattered and his chest struggled for every breath beneath his three cloaks. His grey green bald pate reflected the light of a sun that offered no warmth. Kaza, the war leader, stomped his foot twice upon the dragon's forehead right above those large reptilian eyes that can house three men in each of its sockets and the dragon's ascent slowed to a halt. The giant winged lizard beat its massive wings attached to its arms and hovered in place.
Kaza, you wear the scales of a Dragon's child, yet you do not awaken the Dragons to anger. Instead they serve you. Why can't we accept you? What further signs do we need?
"I'm sorry Cedyl, I just didn't want the sound of their mockery to reach me. That way I can focus more on the task at hand. Pity, I was hoping I'll spend majority of the day sleeping, not doing this." He indicated beneath him with an outstretched green arm to the sea of yellow armored warriors raising their swords in his direction and their voices in challenge.
"You're channeling Sloth, war leader. We don't need Sloth today." Cedyl said.
Kaza grunted. "They are being led by a woman, a Queen. She rides in battle with them and declares Basi haya can never be ruled by a whore's son." Kaza clenched his fingers into a fist. His silky black hair fluttered in the raging wind. "I will fuck her before her whole army. I will fuck her daughters too, and her husband and sons. I will make them all my whores."
"Lust, war leader. You're channeling Lust, introduced by Pride. Use them as fuel to-"
"Wrath." Kaza finished and turned those vertically slit irises towards Cedyl, and Cedyl met them with his own round yellow colored ones before nodding. He tightened his grip on the dragon's foremost protruding spine at the nape of the creature's neck after Kaza flashed him a knowing smile.
Kaza raised an arm and six dragons that had been hovering below rose from beneath the dragon they stood on, flanking it on all sides. Three of the dragons were twice as large as the one they currently rode and Cedyl was reminded of why his faith was forever strong when it came to Kaza.
"Cedyl, which direction is their Queen?" Kaza asked.
"She stands behind her army. War leader."
"I shall strike the middle then."
"Awakened to Wrath, War leader?"
"No, Lust is enough. I love her language, it's hot. I will listen to it."
"As you will Warleader."
Cedyl watched as Kaza sprinted down the Dragons head, across its snout and with a shout jumped off the end of its nose. The six dragons plunged after Kaza, circling him as they all plummeted down the sky, towards the army bellow. The creatures opened their maws in unison, revealing large teeth like steel swords, fire coalesced within their throats and shot at the solo figure falling with them in their midst. Bathing Kaza in a wall of flame.
Cedyl watched as all at once the dragons spread their wings, breaking the wind and slowing their fall. Leaving Kaza to fall alone, engulfed in a roaring flame. Kaza stretched out his arms and grabbed the flame, falling with it and spinning all the while, tying the flame to him as one would a cloak. He became spinning vortex of raging fire, falling towards the army bellow like a spear hurled by a God. Cedyl was sure the army no longer mocked. That they were now silent as realization dawned on them concerning their rightful place within the realm.
He is a comet of destruction, you fools! Bow before him or die. There is no other way, you stupid Queen, there is no other way and now you shall see. Cedyl thought.