Phabium walked the realm of his pantheon once again in search of those that could use the power that Maxwell had just given him the best. Walking the courts of all those monster gods, whose court long went silent, though for the first time in a long time he was the only source of movement within the holy realm of the monster pantheon. As Acrostile, a lesser monster god of the dark fey, had gained followers and a temple.
Through this, two things Acrostile had gained power and slowly brought life to the court of the dark fey monster gods by tending to his duties. Hopefully, Acrostile would be the catalyst needed to breathe life back into the rest of the withered dark fey monster god court, though only time would tell. Phabium turned his attention from Acrostile and the dark fey monster gods, as he had to watch over all monster gods and so would use the power of the grass pixie elders to bring power to several monster god courts.
First he took the power of the ritual of growth that the farming pixie elders had used and went through the court of those that once spread sheer terror and worship in those beasts that live in the ocean depths. Now those of this court of monster gods are barely remembered by sailors that once shuddered in pure fear if only half their names were spoken.
Phabium looked among the court of the sea for a monster sea god with the strength that was compatible with the power that he had brought. He looked upon the court, seeing the many monster sea gods whose forms once filled entire trenches but now barely fit inside their thrones as they had shrunk so much due to being weakened from the hunting of those under their authority.
Soon enough, Phabium found one who met the requirements. He walked towards him, Phabium's ever-shifting form causing what little light there was within the sea court to cast his shadow in strange ways in the dark, murky depths that surrounded them. He soon enough had crossed the distance between himself and the one he sought, which was the monster sea god by the name of Arrab.
Phabium gave Arrab a quick glance that painted him dearly as it always did to see his godkin reduced to such a state. Arrab was a monster sea god of the Arowac. The arowac were a race of giant sea crabs that had huge arrow-like horns sticking out of their heads. As their god, Arrab once had entire fleets at the top of his arrow horn on which he had pierced personally.
Now Arrab did not even have a small canoe on his head, much less the fleet of broken ships he had run through. "My king, what brings you down to where the dregs are today?" Arrab said, not looking up, as he did not have the strength to even lift his head up. A shame that destroyed Arrab every moment of every day for one that once destroyed entire fleets that had angered him while looking them all in the eye.
"I have come with a chance for honor to restore you to a semblance of what you once were. Will you take it? To look your king in the eyes again." Phabium asked plainly, getting the point across but quietly, so as to not disturb the other weakened monster sea gods in the court. At hearing the offer, Arrab tried to tilt his head up to look his king in the eye to be sure of the truth but didn't have the strength to.
"Of course, sire. I want that more than anything." Arrab said the hope and desperation mixing clearly in his voice as he answered. Phabium nodded and passed him the power of the grass pixie ritual of growth. Once Arrab had the power in his class, he knew what he was to do with it and immediately began to shape it into an artifact of himself.
"Good, I have powers for others, so I will go and give them and come back for the artifact you have made." Phabium said leaving Arrab to his work while he went to find others in his pantheon to give hope to. Phabium walked the halls for a moment, taking several forms with each step as he grew and lost crab claws only to get a dozen batwings in return.
Phabium walked the halls of the pantheon for a while looking for one who would be compatible with the power of the ritual power of the craftsman elders and make the most out of the power at the same time. Phabium eventually found the court he was looking for. The entranceway to this specific court was made out of trees utterly destroyed by the claws and fangs of a massive beast that seemed to have dragged the wood they tore apart into a loose doorway.
He walked in, the pain surging into him once again as he gazed around the courtroom and saw those that once destroyed great forests and made their nests out of young world trees. Sadly, those days were long gone as he gazed at the monster gods of the forest eaters. They were the gods in charge of those monsters that devoured all plant life in their path.
Sadly, it seemed every elven hero had it that as a right of passage, they could only be a true elven hero if they had caused at least one species of such plant-eating monsters to go extinct. Which, considering the sheer amount of elven heroes over the years, meant that at this point there were more legendary trees than there were species of forest-destroying monsters.
Though hopefully with the power he now brought, they would be a little less rare. Phabium looked around for a god of the forest eaters that was most compatible with the power he brought, and soon enough he found them. So he walked over to them, careful not to disturb the others.
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Phabium was next to them in next to no time. The god he was standing over was Upath, god of the pavooth, a race of four-legged monsters that had giant, razor-sharp teeth. They were once like vermin found everywhere in the forest, cutting trees in half and chewing through the roots of any plant their claws could dig out. That was before elven archer heroes decided they made the best target practice.
The pavoot went from being vermin found everywhere to rarer than some forms of unicorn. As such, Upath, their god, was weakened and never recovered, though now perhaps he could, and the pavooth with him. Upath finally noticed Phabium's presence. "What does the great king want from Upath? His great fangs don't work anymore. And what is an Upath worth without good fangs? Upath said his negativity was practically palpable.
"You may not have good fangs, Upath, but you have not lost any of your skill." Phabium said gently, causing Upath to turn towards him, curiosity clear on his face. "I have obtained a power for you to use so that the pavoooth may greatly once again, and in doing so, hopefully help you to do the same again." Phabium said, causing Upath's look of curiosity to turn to hope as Phabium handed him the ritual power of the crafting elders.
Upath got to work quickly crafting into an artifact of himself and the pavooth. "I have one more power to deliver, and so I shall return for the artifact when you are done with its creation." Phabium said to a focused Upath, who gave a quick nod of confirmation but stayed focused on his work.
Phabium made his way down the hallway once again, his ever-shifting shadow his companion for the journey. He was looking for the one compatible with the last power he held, the ritual power of the elder hunters. He looked for a moment and found what he was looking for: the entranceway was caught in a single moment, specifically the dawn. This caused a rising sun to just always be over the doorway, but the rising sun never seemed to fully rise despite how much time had passed.
Phabium walked through the doorway to the court of the dawn monster gods, those monster gods that represented the monsters that attacked at dawn. They made the most of the transition between night and day to attack those made complacent due to the change in time as. Though sadly, just as the elven heroes hunted the forest eater for sport, causing their decline, the same had happened to the dawn monsters.
As the dawn monsters were caught in between an unfortunate private battle between those heroes that worshipped day and those that worshipped night. As a way of proving who was better over the other, they had taken to hunting monsters in the dawn in extreme numbers. They did this as a form of competition between each other, which has devastated the ranks of dawn monsters, as such competitions were held often.
Phabium looked around at those weakened husks that once were considered celestial disasters. Those with the gift of foresight would foretell of their coming with the dawn, which meant the doom of civilizations. Now most with the gift of foresight guess at his long before the dawn monster gods die totally. Though Phabium hoped that with what he brought he would have helped the dawn monster gods avoid such a fate.
Phabium looked around the court for a moment, looking for one who could use the power he had brought the best. Then he saw the one he sought and approached quietly, though with speed, and in no time, as he had with the others, Phabium now stood over the god he was going to ask for aid from.
The god looked to him. "It's good to see you, sire, but what brings you to the court of the dawn? Our time has long passed." Dawth said god of the eorap, a race of all lizards known to scrounge for weapons and supplies during the night. So they can launch their raids during the dawn.
"It may have come again, Dawth; I just need your help in making it so." Phabium said, to which Dawth looked at him curiously. Phabium then proceeded to give Dawth the power of the ritual of the hunting elders. Dawth, quickly seeing what was being asked of him, got to work. Phabium watched as Dawth worked, not leaving as he would wait for Dawth to finish the artifact, then go and collect the others.
Once the three artifacts were completed and brought back to Maxwell, those gods would have ways of entertaining with the mortal plane once again. This would allow them to gain power and rise once again. As Phabium watched Dawth forge a weak godly artifact, the first time the monster god pantheon had done so in thousands of years, Phabium wondered.
"Will this truly be the time things change?" Phabium said to himself, a faint trace of hope coming through his voice as Phabium felt hope building to a point that he hadn't felt in thousands of years. A dangerous thing to do, he knew the more you hoped, the more you were destroyed when it all came crumbling down, as it had done for him many times. But perhaps he had to have hope as the ruler for those that had lost all of theirs a long time ago, even if it hurt him in the end.