[centre]Sauranath, [s]Great Reptile[/s] Ordinary Humanoid
&
Ialu, The Success Kid
Level 4 Demigod, 5.5 Might[/centre]

[centre]The Call upon the Great Gods[/centre]

[hider=Summary]
[list]
[*] Sauranath calls Invictus and Fate to bail him out of his negative Might situation. He tears off some of his own scales and tells them that Mirtagn sacrificed himself in their name.
[*] Fate and Invictus do not appear but speak out. For 160 years Sauranath has to live as an ordinary human in order for his Might to be restored. He has no divine aura or powers and isn't even recognizable. He is also immortal but can die, and if he does die, Invictus and Fate won't help him.
[*] Invictus notices Ialu and recognizes him. Invictus is revealed to be the Mighty One.
[*] As a favor, Ialu's curse of failure is removed and Ialu is teleported back into his house.
[*] Ialu finds his house full of undead that he has to destroy. One of the Silent Six had reanimated the skeleton of the Dyun Champion, amongst some other things.
[*] Invictus and Fate speak to all the gods, commanding them to stop their direct interference in human affairs
[/list]
[/hider]

Sauranath looked upwards to the skies. The call upon Fate and Invictus would not go unnoticed, he hoped. "Upon the highest stars I call. Stars upon the stars, as high above us as we are above the worms and ants of the world down below. Unfathomable ones, high above the clouds. . . hear me speak my prose and poetic words. I petition you, because I am unsure if prayers are the right words for my request". He looked around himself. "The world down below is in maddening danger of being wiped out and replaced with corruption, walking dead. The Witch King Thulemiz, as the Brightwood's folk call him, slaughters innocents and replaces their lives as people with dignity as their slaves in the after life. I can think of only one way to exist right now, and that's by fighting. A dragon's life is mostly primal struggle, if not to the death than to achieve victory, even if it's by a wrestling competition."

"I pledge my power over to you, Invictus, Fate, I have been using your powers, and it has drained me severely. I have grown weary, furthermore, of life upon Galbar. The people there need me, and I may need it. There is no other world to make, for there is no one to rule or serve for anywhere else. The Stars could use my nourishment, true, but I am a dragon not a gardener. Hear my cry and my petition, great Fate and great Invictus. I have gone mad with frustration, unable to hold to my obligations, unable to save the innocent down below. Whatever I must ask for I do not know how to address such awesome beings. Once more I state, I shall pledge myself towards mortality, until a described amount of time has passed. I ask also that Mirtagn's act of sacrifice be remembered. His will to serve his Lord is unmatched. The Proud dragon race below are short of numbers in those who are as loyal as he".

"Behold I tear off my scales", Sauranath tore off his scales ritualistically. . . "Take my immortality! I grant my blood, my body and my soul for the good of the world, the people but most dearly the people who are innocent of perfidiousness!"

While Mirtagn's act of self-sacrifice had not gone unnoticed, it was these words of Sauranath that attracted the attention of both Greater Gods. Though Invictus did not appear, as he had done not so long ago with the Great Spirit Escre, his voice did ring within the minds of Sauranath and Ialu.

'Is it not a foolish being that gives up godhood for the sake of mere creations?' Invictus spoke, 'certainly you have weakened yourself greatly, but would it not be better for you to simply...hibernate for a while?'

A softer, far more encompassing voice suddenly echoes within their minds. This one was more melodious and seemed rather far off, as though it spoke from a far off place and its attention was not wholly on them.

'So it was, so shall it be,' it echoed, 'though take this wisdom, for you, from me: as you sow so shall you reap, laugh not with fools, but with wise ones weep,' and with that, an almighty force took hold of Sauranath as though he was naught but a child's doll, and it hurled him towards Galbar with such force that no wings or ability to fly would save him.

So great was the force that wings ripped away and scales were simply left behind, and the Great Reptiles very muscles and sinews were ripped apart, until all that was left to land on Galbar's earth was a grotesque piece of meat. This writhed and bubbled and grew and was coated in skin and formed bones until a blonde-haired, brown-eyed human man stood there. To all extents and purposes, he was naught but a man and none would be able to detect any divine presence about him, for he was no longer divine.

'For one hundred and sixty years, you shall dwell as a human,' came Invictus' command, 'and when your service is done, we shall return to you your power and your might. We have granted you extended life, but know that your prayers will be as nothing to us should you manage to find death,' and with that Invictus began to withdraw his consciousness, but something stopped him.

'Ah, I remember you now,' his voice whispered in Ialu's mind, before Fate's words echoed once more in the demigod's mind:

'As you sow so shall you reap, laugh not with fools, but with wise ones weep,' and with that the curse of absolute failure was lifted.
'Know this, child,' came Invictus' voice, 'honour the system even as you strive to overthrow it.'

And then they were no longer present and Ialu disappeared from Sauranath's star and reappeared in his home, where the familiar skeleton of the Dyun champion was very quickly upon him.

As for the warlord, he was alarmed to see the sight of Sauranath mutilating himself, only to be grasped by forces greater than any imaginable and essentally pulverized. From within the Star that was an Eye of dragons, Ialu saw the Great Reptile being seemingly obliterated and hurled back down to Galbar, but then...a human stepped out from the writhing carnage. The archgods' words having not been adressed to him, he had not heard their judgement and had no way of knowing what was to come of this pitiful remnant of what was once a god.

Out of sheer gratitude, Ialu made sure to memorize every detail of Sauranath's new features. Whether this was to be a temporary punishment or a death sentence, if the weakened dragon god ever found his way to Ialu the demigod vowed to himself that he would harbor and protect Sauranath to the best of his ability. If not purely out of gratitude, then he would strive to do as much should the god ever regain his former glory. It seemed wise to have an ally of such high station.

Then the warlord cringed for a moment as he awaited his own judgement; hoping that it would not be near so costly or horrible as what had befallen Sauranath. All he heard, however, was an unfathomably deep and powerful voice, that of Invictus, whispering to him. He remembered? The warlord's thoughts were briefly interrupted by some cryptic words from the other one called Fate, and then he felt the curse lifted. Invictus once again spoke to Ialu, referring to him as [i]child[/i]. It was then that the demigod's suspicions were confirmed.

[b][color=Gold]"Mighty One...father,"[/color][/b] he murmured as he faded away and then reappeared in a familiar place. His mind entirely occupied in thought and the comforting darkness of his home offering no warning, Ialu was taken by surprise by a very certain undead.

Seeming Dyun in structure and headless, it was easily recognizable as the remnants of the Dyun Champion. One of its skeletal hands went for the warlord's throat while the other snaked around to the handle of the Blade of chaos, nestled in his clothing. Ignoring the grip on his throat for a demigod needed no air, Ialu's hand shot like lightning for the wrist of this old adversary. He twisted and heard a great snap as he tore off the entire arm, then a few more cracks as fingers broke when he tore the handle back out of the decayed hand.

Summoning his wi, he simply obliterated his enemy. The skeleton at once disintegrated and was reduced to a heap of dust and bone meal. He had come a long way since that creature had nearly killed him, after all. Turning around, the demigod could sense all sorts of vile undead crawling about in his home, no doubt reanimated by one of those accursed necromancers that were Thulemiz's dogs...At least Invidia had reduced those six necromancers to five, before he himself suffered a humiliating death in a pool of acid.

Sighing, Ialu effortlessly cleared out his cottage of undead. All the while, his thoughts were straying elsewhere.

Sauranath looked around himself. . . he would have to immediately make his way to the Brightwoods. They were the only free nations that were left. The undead were very close. The Brightwoods were better defended than the past nation, and the serpent men were allied very closely with the Brightwood. They knew the ways of dragons themselves, and their metal equipment and smithing process was the most advanced in the world. That was the only thing that Sauranath knew could save the people, other than having an immense allying army of dragons. Sauranath was only a Human being now. He would have to learn the ways of the dragons like the Brightwoodsmen. He did, however, find on his arrival how to smith using Mithril and that the Brightwoodsmen folk and Serpent Men were building closer ties than expected. They didn't just get along or trade, they were diplomatically close, as in allied. It made sense to get themselves ready even as the West was crawling with undead. The former deity hoped Ialu had the good sense to come to the East. 

'You have destroyed and torn and played around, now listen to our commands: let your toying end with mortal lands,' it was the voice of Fate, ringing in the minds of all the gods.
'It is our...[i]wish[/i]...that you no longer interfere [i]directly[/i] with mortal affairs. You gods may no longer appear, in your full, havoc-causing presences before mortals. Your Avatars may do as they wish, but you gods must stay away, or if you cannot, then do no harm,' it was Invictus this time. With their orders given, the two Great Gods returned to their other, far more important duties elsewhere.