[centre][color=black][b]Vowzra, Level 5 God of Time
0 Might 3 Free Points[/b][/color][/centre]

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[list]
[*] Vowzra responds to the others
[*] Zerabil responds to Undasis
[/list]
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Vowzra was a disdainful god. He was not one who acted out of sudden fleeting emotions or moments of inspiration. He was one who acted and struck as Fate willed. He had known that this was a moment Fated - for the gods gathered, one after another. Not all of them, this was true, but most were present before him. First had been Astarte. He remembered that long ago time in pre-existence when he had felt the strangest feeling of hostility towards her, but had batted that away. He now understood. It had always been her Fate to turn towards the Chaotic One. She was not an enemy, but he knew most certainly that she could never be an ally. Perhaps circumstance would see them side-by-side when Fate willed he allow chaos to wreak its havoc on the world, but she would not be a permanent ally.

Then her Chaotic One arrived. It was not too surprising, truly. Where Astarte went, the Chaotic One could not be far behind. They were, whether they realised it or not, linked beyond their ability to undo. They would be forever together. They would be forever by each other's side. She would love him and none beside him. She would delight in him and none beside him. They had become truly an item. Thus was it Fated. 
Then Chaos spoke, attempting to weave the discord he had amongst the creation now among the creators.

[color=lightpink]'...Your children are murdered, hunted down like rabbits and butchered like cattle. When you come down to extract rightful vengeance upon their murderers, to let the world know that such cruelty [i]will not[/i] be tolerated, these two stop you. They have the gall to claim that your children are not yours anymore. That [i]they[/i] have taken your place. They tell you that it is perfectly fine for this to happen. They basically order you to stop your vengeance, that their butchers are in the right and you are in the wrong. They [i]mock[/i] you, Sauranath. They tell you to shut your muzzle, and serve Fate. And what do you do? You back down. The mighty God of Dragons, cowed by a few words.'[/color] 

With these words, the Chaotic One found his place between Vowzra and Escre, placing his arms around the two before continuing his poisonous tirade.
[color=lightpink]'You're a coward Sauranath. You fear that we will do to you what countless others have done to your children, and will continue to do so after you've returned to your slumber. Go, God of Cowards. Sleep and rest easy knowing that Escre, Vowzra, and I will continue to exterminate your children until all that there is to be remembered of them is their meat in our followers bellies, their claws on our followers weapons, and their scales on our followers armor. The God of Life has no emotions, so he won't feel any remorse for it. The God of Time will cower behind Fate, repeating 'It was destined by Fate, It was destined by Fate, I had no choice!'. Me? I'll be honest here, Cowardly One. I just enjoy it. Now leave, and go back to sleep. One of us will fix the tree, and we'll get back to business as usual, safe in the knowledge you have no courage to save your children.'[/color]

The Outsider, Invidia, was the one who responded first, and then Escre spoke:

[i][color=C0C0C0][b]”One whose purpose is to inhibit the ability to others to create would not understand the difference between cowardice and wisdom.  No member of the Sanguine Communion has ever killed a dragon.  It is undeniable that the dragons command greater power and greater magnificence than the humans, and far more than the outsiders.  That I freely admit to you.  That is why for there to exist a balance between humans and dragons, the dragons must be outnumbered.  Their numbers have not yet dwindled past the balancing point, and if so, I would have intervened on their behalf.  I lay no claim to your offspring, and demand no tribute.  The bravest thing for a being of strength to do is to put faith in reason and caution.  It would take but a fraction of our combined power to make dragons into creatures not to be feared, but to be venerated, and then the hunts would cease.  I urge you not to put stock in the lies of Chaos, who seeks not to aid you but to enrage you, so that he may feed off the tumult.”[/b][/color][/i] Vowzra chose this point to respond to Chaos also.

[color=black][b]'The Star Children are neither murdered nor are they hunted down like rabbits and butchered like cattle. I see them in their tens of thousands, the most numerous of all sentient beings; the Godless One hunts them, but his people have only slain two dozen. It is hardly a thing worthy of extracting this 'rightful vengeance upon their murderers'. There has been no unusual cruelty towards dragon-kind, they live most prosperously and hunt wherever they wish and whomever they please. It is only you, oh Chaotic One, who has deigned it fit to interfere with them, as you have deigned it fit to interfere with all - is it not you upon whom any vengeance should be extracted? What is it to the race of mighty gods who dwell beyond whether creations should slay each other or not? 'Tis their life and their doing and 'tis as Fate decrees. You say we have descended to stop the Great Reptile from exacting revenge, I have come to prevent a horrendous mistake and keep the peace. I have come for this Fated moment of the meeting of the gods - so who of you will deny that the working of mighty Fate is in play, who has gathered us here whether we wished or we did not?'[/b][/color] his eyeless head moved, as if gazing upon these others, many of whom he knew denied the might and glory of Fate. It was most saddening, he felt like a mortal prophet calling his people to truth, but they, like people, are most adverse to truth but a few. 

[color=black][b]'We have not taken the Great Reptile's place as progenitor of dragon-kind, just as Chaos has not taken the place of Time and Life as the progenitor of Man; but just as Vowzra's Children are no longer simply Vowzra's Children, dragon-kind is no longer simply the progeny of the Great Reptile, they are, like all things in existence, [i]ours[/i]. And we are [i]theirs[/i].'[/b][/color] to whom Vowzra was referring he left unsaid. Those who knew the truth would understand, he could not tear out of darkness and ignorance those who gouged their eyes and pierced their that they may neither hear nor see.

[color=black][b]'No follower of mine has slain a dragon. Even had they done so, and they have not, it would not have been my place to step in or prevent it unless Fate so willed. I do not cower behind Fate, I only look upon all that could be Fated and tread the path of Time along any Fated route; it is not the place of the pawn to question the paths ahead, simply to choose one and follow it. It is not your place to question, oh Chaotic One, when you do as I do but in ignorance do it.'[/b][/color]

Then the Weeping One arrived, and its darker side spoke in support of Chaos.

[color=f26522]'...Do you see what their pathetic creations, these "humans", have done to your beloved children? I would never allow the dragons, had they been my children, to have their skin and scales used as armour- it is heinous and disgusting. Should you desire it, I will gladly aid you in a quest for vengance, such as you have the right to. Anyone who's creations have been slaughtered deserves to demand a blood payment, just as Vowzra and Escre demand that Cimex be killed because the Cimex once almost wiped out all humanity. If they have the right to demand blood of the Cimex for harming the humans, have you not the right to demand blood of the humans for harming the Dragons? Do not let them apply a double-standard to themselves, they are sinners just as well.'[/color] with this, the Weeping One descended into a diatribe on why Escre was not to be trusted. Little did it realise that with this it was only revealing to all its perfidious and duplicitous nature - this was the Weeping One for all to see, it heeded your advice one day and sunk its treacherous fangs into your back the next.  

[color=f26522]'Do not listen to the God of Life, he has allowed bias to cloud his once-clear judgement, and poison to tip his once-trusted words.'[/color] with its diatribe done, it turned upon Zerabil within the orb.

[color=f26522]'Greetings, [i]blessed of Undasis.[/i]'[/color] it said, grinning at the man who worshipped and honoured all the gods, [color=f26522]'is that not what you call yourself these days? How do you feel now, to see the other side of your fair lady? Impressive, no?'[/color] He laughed before taking on a high and wise tone, [color=f26522]'your God of Time is not a wholly evil or foolish one, my child, but do not go blindly into his guidance, as he has into Fate's. Trust no one, not even Vowzra or I, with all your soul. There are no gifts,'[/color] then he murmured in a far more sinister tone, [color=f26522]'gifts are a myth.'[/color]

Zerabil looked upon the god before smiling most widely and lowering his head in respect.
[color=9e0b0f]][i]'It is not I who dubs myself as blessed, oh He of the Waters, but it is you who blessed. Is it wrong for one blessed to not be thankful and declare this blessing far and wide? Most certainly I would be an ungrateful slave if I did not sing praises to those who gifted and rained upon me countless blessings and asked for naught in return.'[/i][/color] he paused before speaking again.
[color=9e0b0f][i]'I do not think gifts are a myth, oh mighty one, this fragile body and this fragile life of mine were a gift from my Father. Am I myth? And this,'[/i][/color] at this, the Morning Sword appeared in his hand, [color=9e0b0f][i]'was a gift from my most beautiful and honoured lady, She of the Waters, and it is from you too, a gift and a blessing. You may cause me to suffer in future in an attempt to prove to me that gifts are myths, but your testing will not break my belief, mighty one. The kindness and mercy of those up above is many times greater than their cruelty; this a thing I shall believe even if the world shall constrict around me and I find no saviour or friend among any of you whom I so honour and love. I shall trust you a complete trusting, for I am at your mercy always, if I do not trust you than who beside you can I trust?.'[/i][/color]

Vowzra cocked his colossal head at the words of his Son. There was a great naivety in his perspective, and there was a purity and innocence which had not been sullied by battles and death. There was no hatred in him, he had steered himself, subconsciously, away from those things his soul knew to be repulsive, yet his mind still honoured the very ones who created hatred and and who delighted in sullying the pure. Vowzra knew he would grow and there would come a day when he no longer honoured all the gods so much. For Vowzra saw with an Eye, and all the paths of Fate he saw dictated this to be an absolute truth. Zerabil's days as a prophet of all the gods and a true lover were numbered. He did not entirely understand the sadness that filled him at this. It was clear to him that just as creations were quick to take for granted what they had been granted and given, so too were the creators quick to take for granted those who truly honoured and respected them for no other reason than their love for those who created and sustained them.

The Guardian then took on the Weeping One's words:

[i][color=C0C0C0][b]“A...puppet.  An artifice devoid of substance, of self, of creed, of thought.  You, Kraken, are mistaken indeed to assume me entwined with Vowzra, and an unabashed fool to think me his subordinate.  I have worked with him because it suits me.  Though I respect him, there is only one rhythm to which I resonate: my own.  And there is only one race for whom I've the slightest personal regard.  The humans intrigue me, but if they proved a threat to the balance, or sought to eliminate any other race, even dragons and Cimex, I would exact judgment on them as well, and as the Execrable Chaos says, without remorse.  The fragment of cold that I remembered from my slumber was a reprehensible overlook on my part, and I have since made my peace with Svieand.”

“For your accusations, however, I do not blame you.  My mind works differently than yours, and it may appear that I've been acting out of turn.  It is a pity that you have decreed any connection between us dissolved.  Fortunately, I do not require your trust to persist in my duty.  If the existence of dragons is threatened, I will help to save them.  If humans threaten to overstep their bounds, I will erase their spirits from existence.  If the Cimex seem poised to go extinct, I will save them.  Only Chaos, manifested for the sole and petty purpose of hindering and defiling others, is my permanent foe.  Instigators will be punished, losers spared, and winners reminded.  Those...are promises.  If there are any gods with personal grievance to my actions, you need only find me at the Astral Home.”[/b][/color][/i]

Vowzra then proceeded to respond to the Weeping One's unfounded proclamations - did this Weeping One think Sauranath truly so ignorant as to believe his blatant lies?
[color=black][b]'Man has done nothing to dragon-kind which dragon-kind has not done many times over to Man. Humans are the creations of Time and Life and we have allowed great strife to come upon them - thus was it Fated - it is neither heinous nor disgusting. The Great Reptile has no right to vengeance against anyone, and [i]you shall not[/i] incite or aid it upon such a course. None have a right to a blood payment. Life and Time have not demanded that Cimex be killed, these are merely mortal developments in which we have had no hand. The only sinner here is you, vile and reprehensible speaker of deceit. How is it that the Guardian of Life should be my puppet when it is I who responded to his command that I come? What puppet commands its master? Begone and let she who speaks truth rise from the crushing depths of your perfidious soul.'[/b][/color] with that, Vowzra turned upon the Guardian before it left.

[color=black][b]'If Man sought to eliminate any other race, [i]I[/i] shall exact judgment on all who directly interfere. It is not the place of gods to mould the world against its nature - if the Cimex are weak enough to be exterminated, then they have exterminated themselves with their weakness. If dragon-kind cannot protect itself, that is no reason for gods to descend upon the earth and wreak destruction. If Man himself were to find himself cornered and on the brink of extinction, as he has been on so many occasions and found no helper or saviour among the gods, then I would pass judgment against any who attempt to directly interfere.'[/b][/color] it was no threat, Vowzra knew that Escre understood the mutual respect that ran between them, but he had to understand that Vowzra saw with an Eye and the Guardian saw with another. It was inevitable that they would clash, but it did not mean they could not depend on each other when the true, greater balance was at risk.