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Message: <blockquote data-quote="seasong" data-source="post: 865953" data-attributes="member: 5137"><a href="http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=733601#post733601" target="_blank">Akeros' Passing</a>Vignette: The Return of AkerosFifty Years AgoThe celestial fabric trembled. Half-heard threats and words rolled through its very structure. The gods were angry, primarily with each other, and their passions warped and shook the firmament. Immortal servants scurried like unguided ants. Conflict was coming among the celestial planes.Each of the gods, secure in their own dominion, foresaw this, and set about preparing for it. A decade is a trivial thing to the gods, and the first blows had not yet been struck. And as strength flows from mortals, so must preparations for war. Small families were guided to form. Children worthy of bearing the child of a God were born, and the gods watched them grow.When the time came, small bits of divine essence streaked down from the heavens. Priests were prepared with visions and coincidence. The first children were born, marked by a god, and were guided into the professions where they could have the most impact. The gods needed things to happen in certain ways. They needed dominance and strength among mortals. They needed power. And for that, they needed mortal Servants to represent them.The strategies varied from god to god, as they always do. Allas sprinkled small amounts of talent and beauty and sun-kissed ellini into the populations. She cared for them, and developed them into heroes. People who love the heroes of Allas, love Allas.Hethas took a different tack. She created only two, and she carefully crafted their lives. One of those was a boy who called himself Akeros, who murdered for his people and learned to love it.TodayNorth of Theralis and Aglaonis, there is a cave to Hethas' domain. It is the nekromanteia, the gate of the dead. A mystery cult guards it against those who would enter its depths unguided, and defends it against those who believe it should be destroyed. They are among the most skilled fighters and priests of Hethas in the world, lacking fear of any living thing.Death stalked them, and they became afraid.The first sign was a priestess, young and still in training, who disappeared during her meditations in the shallower tunnels. It was not unheard of to lose initiates, but when her body was found scattered about the deepest altar, a worried frown creased some of the elder priests' brows. When an elder priest disappeared and his body showed up in the same fashion, worry became terror.Over the weeks, it haunted them. What, they knew not. But it moved silently, passing from shadow to shadow like a wraith but immune to the strongest commands over the dead. Other than its shadow, only its eyes were ever seen, glittering dark, cobalt blue in the darkness. It killed every few days, always the same way, scattering the limbs and torso of the victim around the altar. As if it was not quite sure how to make a proper sacrifice, and so opting for sheer volume over propriety.Some initiates even suggested taking a lantern down, to light the tunnels, before they were hushed by their elders.Finally, the elders made a decision. It helped that three of them, among the strongest, had already died. They would help it make its sacrifices, and pray to Hethas that that was sufficient.For three days, initiates were torn limb from bloody limb by the most ancient and primal of rituals, rituals that had not seen use in centuries, their methods only mentioned in dusty books of previous civilizations. On the third day, he showed up.His skin as pale as ivory, his eyes darkest blue, his nails blackest talons. He was beautiful. He ripped apart the final initiate himself, following the ritual he'd watched for three days, and finally spoke."I require clothing. And weapons."These were hastily acquired and presented. When he had bathed, and clothed himself, and armed himself with his choice of the treasures of the deep, he nodded in satisfaction."It is good. Hethas grant you life... and death."A wave of anguish, spouting from the mouth of the river of pain, shook through the tunnels. Many died from the agony. More lived, but remembered the day for the remainder of their lives. Of the creature that had emerged from Hethas' dark realm, nothing more was known. He left thereafter, as the strong and the dead writhed on the floor.Akeros had returned. He still had a mission to complete.</blockquote>

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