Lords of Creation, The Second Age

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The girl sighed. Not out of disappointment, but the sort of sigh a girl might let out thinking upon a lover. This place truly was a dream. If only everyone thought the way these people did.

He thoughts were interrupted by a quiet sound from the alley the man had disappeared down. The start of a scream, followed by a chocking gurgle. She made her way over, turning the corner just in time to catch the breathless in her horrifying true form before she shifted back into the beautiful angelic countenance of Sariel, eyes black and mouth agape. The Durhian lay dead at her feet, eyes bulging and face contorted in true terror. His tanned brown cheeks has taken on a dark hue, and his hand extended upward, paralyzed in his last act of terrified defiance. The girl moved closer, stooping down to examine the body more closely, before smiling up at the fallen Angel and speaking in an exited whisper. "This is great corpse composition, Sari. Something like this would get people talking. Just think if the press gets around to this, the rumor mill would go insane! You didn't consider any of this, did you?" She said, looking up at the unreadable expression Sariel's face. "You were....just hungry." She stood up and dusted off her pants, before creeping up to Sariel and throwing her arms around her neck, pressing her cheek against the angels as she squeezed with all her might. "That won't stop me from being proud though!"

One last tight squeeze and Sariel was released, but only for a moment as the Rag Lady made her way behind her. Throwing one arm around her neck, using the other to point her head down, and gently laying her own head on the angels shoulder, she whispered, "If you remember this scene, and apply this same subtly of technique in the future, you will pass into legend. I knew from the second I created you that you would be one of the greatest sources of nightmares in the history of the world. You've taken your first step Sari. Everything begins here."

Sariel's lip trembles just a little as The Rag Lady releases her and continues speaking. "But let's try and control our appetites from now on, huh? We don't need to uncork all this built up tension, that would just make this harder. C'mon, cloak up and we'll go see the mayor." She pats Sariel on the back as the Breathless fades from view. "Oh darn." She realized. "That guy didn't tell me where I could find the mayor. Oh well, he can't be that hard. Sari, make sure to stay close to me. I don't want you wandering off and getting lost."

With that The Rag Lady and her invisible companion made their way deeper into the foggy alleyways of Metus.

(I'm searching for the Mayor, or any large important looking building where he might live.)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Her eyes locked on to Stohlen like a hawk streaking toward a very cocky hare. Shining shouted a command to the watchmen on either side. "I want this area sealed off, no one gets in or out. You lot, take the right side. You lot, left. You all know the alleys. I don't want anyone engaging Stohlen, not even as a group. Hinata!"

"A runner has already been dispatched to Residential requesting reinforcements. Your men are on their way." Replied the Kata as they ran along, squadrons of coppers breaking away and disappearing into the alleyways.

"Good. Send someone under to pull Kirie out of bed to."

Hinata looked stunned at this. "Captain, with all due respect isn't that a bit overkill. He's just one man, after all."

Hinata hadn't seen what she'd seen. He hadn't stared into the Durhians smiling face. Occasionally the sharks that walked like men came up out of the sea for business in the city. Stohlen looked more like one of them than a Durhian.

"Trust me soldier, it is nowhere near. You have command." She said as her back opened up, her wings spread out, and she soured toward the thief in a zigzagging pattern. She wouldn't lose any officers to this monster. She would not let Cadfael down like that.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Nice Speech." said a cold voice to Anima after the ceremony. The Babysitter leaned in the shadow of the spire, away from prying mortal eyes, absentmindedly fiddling with a small action figure made of cast metal. It was unmistakeably Pantheo.

[Philote]

[Anima}

"Hello Babysitter. You've come to visit so shortly after our last meeting" Anima says eying the Pantheo figurine as best as his form allows.

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[Midas]

Midas breathed deep and soaked in the pleasantness of the moment. Then he turned back to Watches and put his business face back on.

"Have you considered anymore the assignment I gave you? A small group of confidants not of the Vandals to work directly under you."

This was not the first time Midas had brought this up to Watches.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

"I was hoping it'd be you. Wanted some more fun did you?" Stohlen shouted to the approaching captain

As shining drew close she could see the smug satisfaction on the Rhean thief's face. He was enjoying this immensely. He winked slyly at her and held his empty hands up mockingly.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

She flew over and landed opposite him on the roof, her expression unreadable. "You have the right to remain silent." She said, drawing the 4 batons out of their sheaths. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can not afford an attorney one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights?"

[Marvelous Miscreant]

"Straight to the point then, very professional. I like a women who doesn't mince words, " Stohlen flashed a cheery grin. Slowly he was backing up.


"Points for attitude luv, but this isn't quite over yet." He was drawing closer to the edge of the roof, bit by bit.


"See, I'm not through with this little game just yet and neither are you. So here's my proposal. You've got two choices. The first...Let me go. Ignore whatever antiquated moral code it is that motivates you and let me walk away. I leave Spectropolis for good and nobody else get's hurt. I'll be out of your hair and you can return to breaking up bar fights and petty disputes."


Stohlen paused for a moment and stared directly into Shining's eyes. He voice dropped its lighthearted facade and became low and dangerous.


"...or, we can continue our little dance and see how many more necks we can step on during the fun. Your choice."

[Marvelous Miscreant]

The town was a mess. It was to be expected really. Trade had been cut off for the last few decades, since nobody was willing to make the trip. With minimal supplies and only a few farms, the town had practically starved.

The buildings were falling apart, the people seemed to as well. They were emaciated and frail, cowering in corners and in doorways, ignoring everything but the constant fear they felt. It looked as if nobody here had slept in weeks.

The town was on the verge of dying.

Which was why the Mayor's office was so surprising. In direct opposition of the buildings around it, the office was freshly painted and practically glowed it was so clean. Even the sign out front was gold leafed. It read:

    THE OFFICES
            OF
  MAYOR  J. RAEF
SAVOIR OF METUS

The doors were flung open as the girl approached and a large overweight man popped out of them with an excited fervor. He wore a brightly colored suit of obnoxious patterns and didn't seem to share any of the same fear that had gripped the other citizens.

"OH VISITORS! Welcome to my town, yes, yes Welcome!"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

[Anima}
The Babysitter doesn't answer. She flips the toy over in her hands, letting it face you. It's quite a remarkable resemblance, albeit one that has been exaggerated with time. Pantheo didn't have pauldrons that large, and hadn't wielded a hammer. "Do you like it?" She asks sadly. "I made it myself. I do every year, for today. Thousands. I send my servitors out carrying this toy, along with countless others, to every child on the planet for today. I mean a lot of toys, a lot, but he's the most popular. It's the hero thing, I think. Something about a whole pantheon selflessly giving up everything, becoming the ultimate hero, and stopping the bad guy. It's a great story..."

She takes one of the masks that had fallen from the sky last night and tosses it at Anima's feet. "Now I want what really happened."

--------

[Midas]

"Well, I've narrowed it down to who I'm not picking. No Durhians or Milteos, that's one. There's too much bad blood there to pick just one of either group, and is I picked both they'd just fight one another. I considered the dwarf witch, if I didn't think she'd be able to run political circles around me, so they're out. Those two..." She said, shifting her eyes over to Charlos and Iri.

"Imagine a river," Charlos explained eagerly to the woman who never left his side. "But lazy!" Her eyes shot open in amazement.

"Just no." Said Watches. "That Drowning Dog guy has real problems with authority so he's out too. If I had to, right now, pick someone.... That zombie girl seemed eager, ready for anything. One of the Shifter Bedouin, they know this desert better than just about anyone. That centaur has done nothing but work since we got out here. And.... the Shadow Scarred seems reliable. North. Robert North, that's his name.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

{Stohlen}

"As if you'd just stop after setting up all this." Shining yelled back. "But I have a proposal of my own. Surrender yourself to my custody and cooperate. You'll probably hang, but I think I can get that down to life imprisonment if you flip on your gang. Or we can keep this up and you can risk running into Captain Kirie, who's much more open to the idea of capital punishment. You think you're the first freak to try and pull something like this? The most she leaves of people like you is your outline, burned onto a wall."

--------
{The Rag Lady}

She was struck dumb for a moment by the sheer whiplash of meeting this man, before grinning wide and laughing.

"Finally, someone with some spirit." She said, doing an elaborate little curtsy. "Hello sir. My name is Sally. I was just on a vacation trip, you know yachting down the coast and all, when I happened to spot this enchanting little town through the fog. I just couldn't help myself, I just had to slip my entourage and come see it for myself. This place has a really unique vibe, I'd love to know more about but getting the locals to tell me anything is like pulling teeth with a pair of rusty pliers."

At that moment the girls travelers cloak slipped open just a little, just as a ray of sunlight miraculously pierced the fog, showing that she was dressed in the highest fashion of the Human controlled kingdoms of Eternus. The light caught the expensive jewelry adorning her neck and hands, casing them to literally sparkle before the moment passed the the morning fog enveloped the spot once again.

"May I come inside?" She said in the most posh voice possible.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

On the ship to Môsôoriku, Aox can see a pair of girls with a blue Dragonborn, all of whom carry a pair of swords. The Dragonborn wears heavy armor and one of the swords is large enough to act as a shield. Of the two girls, one wears a wolf pelt and the other wears a yukata with a red ribbon in her hair. The three stare out at the sea in seemingly deep concentration.

[Philote]

[Anima]

Anima is silent for a moment. The mask levitates from the ground, hovers in front of the lamp, and then when it appears like Anima is finished examining it, it floats in Anima's vessel's left hand while Anima's lamp resides in the vessel's right.

"Gilgamesh called me, I joined a mass of nine Aspects, and I woke up on a beach."

Anima pauses again before saying "Do you want the long version?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Midas]

Midas closes his eyes, nods, and listens as Watches explains her choices. "Wise choices. I knew you would be trustworthy when I first saw you. I would choose the male Shifter so that you have a balance of both male and female. I promised before that I would return to Spectropolis to negotiate for supplies for our new town, will you be able to initiate these four while I am gone?"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"I want everything you remember." Replied the Babysitter. "I want to know what went on inside Pantheo. I want to know who was calling the shots."

[Philote]

"It wasn't completely in vain" Anima says. "I just want you to know that before I start my story."

"Our Pantheon was scattered over our continent, each of us guarding our little corner of Eternus while all manor of chaos broke loose. Gilgamesh called us when the Aspect-Eating Behemoths appeared. We all knew it would happen sooner or later. It was what I would consider Gilgamesh's prized artifact, beyond the Well of Eternity or even his precious golden armor. The Soul Gem. Some of us had even fused with Gilamesh in the past, but that was our first attempt at anything so grand. When Gilgamesh called, we gathered. None of us were really born with the ability to disobey him. When we merged, it was almost as if we were acting on instinct. Gilgamesh was in control at the beginning, but even he got lost in the roar of eight other divine energies. The fight with the dragon was exhilarating. The pure power was delicious, I drank from it almost as much as Gilgamesh himself did. When we finished, we moved onto the Monster King himself. I'm not sure anything could have stopped us from charging ahead or if we would have ever chosen to break apart if the fighting had stopped. The Monster King was a different beast entirely. He had all the power and intellect of an Aspect, his sword was as killer as the dragon's fangs, and we still had wounds from the fight with the dragon even if we chose to not acknowledge them. We called for power, anything for more power. Called out from all across the world. Every instance of our Aspects that we could leech from. It became our addiction and I think none of us saw when death came for us. We had broken the Monster King's Tool and for a moment we celebrated before everything broke apart. It turned out so simply. I was the first to break away. Pantheo's power was broken and I was lost. I fell off as one of Pantheo's arms and sank into the ocean while watching my siblings explode out into the stars."

"That is everything from the birth to the death of Pantheo. It wasn't in vain. The behemoth dragons, the crux of the Monster King's power, even the works we left behind on this world. It was worth it for a few moments of insanity."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Babysitter explode. The doll goes flying from her hand and shatters, its carefully handcrafted limbs shattering across the floor. "Worth it? Why do you get to decide whether or not it was worth it? You weren't here!" She yells, advancing on him. Her face strains itself with a rage that has never before crossed it. "You didn't sooth the nightmares. You never saw the terror in a child's face, or gripped the hand of a parent that was stained in blood!"

A ember, slowly burning down over 400 years, had suddenly ignited again. The Babysitter had never had a target for everything she had felt that night, and in the weeks afterwards. The Monster King had died, or been absorbed, or whatever had happened to him and Mi Hael had gone into seclusion soon after. With the man responsible outside of her grasp she had taken to doing everything in her power to take the fear from his name, her own way of getting back at him from beyond the grave. But now she learned she had been wrong. That not only were the ones responsible not who the people she loved and trusted said they were, but she had been celebrating the real murderers for the past 400 years. The pain, the shame, and the betrayal all blew together like a hurricane, kicking up the firestorm that now burned through The Babysitters heart.

"I want you to answer a question for me, Anima!" she spat, "If you were a mortal 400 years ago, if you were there that night and had to hide in your home or flee for your life, what would you hide with you? What would you want to protect with all your life? What would you hold close, weapon in hand in case something came at you out of the dark. Come on Anima, tell me, what is the most important thing!?"

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Outside the room, Kisara mutters to herself, "Now there's a loaded question if I ever saw one, but at least she waited until everyone left before asking."

Kisara lies down in front of the doors to keep anyone from interfering with the goddess and the avatar.

[Philote]

Anima's vessel extends its right hand forward. Lighting flows out of the upheld lamp as Anima's being flows out. An electrical face presses forward and stares the Babysitter down until it is as close as it can get without touching. Static fills the air.

"I am not afraid of you, Babysitter." Something stirred with Anima. The urge to rise up and overthrow a challenge that undeniably marked him as a creation of Gilgamesh.

"You seek to hold some power over what I cherish because you're weak yourself. If you truly wanted to enact your justice, you would take me now. Here I am, reduced to an Avatar before you and yet you seek some scapegoat to keep your hands clean. Strike me down now or surrender your grudge for good, but I warn you, though I am weak now, your choice will not be forgotten."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Scapegoat? Scapegoat!?" She spat, "No, no, no, no, scapegoating is what I've been doing for 400 years, all the while celebrating you babykillers in the streets. Who are you to try and tell me what justice is?"

She bridled under the ultimatum. The Babysitter was not a killer. Sure she would bloody a nose or kick someone in the pants because that was just good fun, but actually taking a life? Even at her worst, as she was now, the thought scared her. But she also couldn't back down from Anima, no matter how afraid of what would happen afterwards she was. If she did that she'd be no better than...

"Here's my justice. There's this office in Spectropolis, and whenever there a report of someone starving, or hitting, or mistreating their child then the office sends someone to investigate. And if they find that person to be unfit as a parent, they take their child away."

He didn't care. He considered himself completely justified. In just a moment she had extended her authority and a dire hush seemed to fall over the entire country, as though something had been snuffed out. The Babysitter floated up in the air, away from Anima. "I'll be going now. It's obvious that I can't trust someone like you to look after the welfare of children. So long as you and yours rule, me and mine will not come to your domain."

The Babysitter then turned in the air and flew away toward the east.

(She is flexing her authority over Children to deny any mortal living under the rule of Gilgamesh's former pantheon from conceiving.)

[Philote]

So, she had chosen to back down, or at least that was how Anima saw it as the Aspect departed. She had chosen her way out, attacking the children and parents when she could not face attacking her foe directly. "Coward" Anima says to himself.

"Proud of yourself?" Nova comments weakly as Anima returns to the base of the ruby Mage's Tower. "Power may not be found in the hearts of children, but Kingdoms certainly thrive on them."

"Would you have bowed to her?" Anima retorts.

"No, I have some of Gilgamesh in me as well, but I am more slow burning than you. Kingdoms are not made by a day's work alone, she will have her return on this, but for now, we are not in form for a fight."

Naram walks up behind Nova, carrying an abnormal Dragon's Skull small enough to fit within his hands. The token shaped for Gilgamesh's pantheon that was given out by the Watchman so that the pantheons could stay connected.

Connecting to Spectropolis, Nova speaks. "Hello Watchman. Are you aware that your Pantheon has launched an attack on Eternus?"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The response is immediate, as though someone has been awaiting this call all say. "What has she done?" The Watchman says wearily.