[center][h1]Vastatio[/h1][/center]

[hr]

[right][b]"There, my hand.
But what is it that
you would show me?"[/b][/right]

[b]"The power that we have
wasted and left untouched!
The power that I shall
use to rouse you from
this slumber and restore this 
withered form of yours."[/b]

And then there was a flash of blinding light as the god wrenched open a rift to the Mechanism of Change and drained the tide of unimaginable power that erupted forth. Just as a rift in space consumed all that entered or a shark's maw swallowed minnows, Xos rested emotionless and he absorbed the energy without effort. Zephyrion couldn't have been more different.

Floating opposite to his [b]son[/b], Zephyrion writhed in agony as he struggled in desperation to absorb the flow of his own heavenly might as Xos recklessly allowed it to pour into the world. If the two of them [i]didn't[/i] absorb it, it would leak into the world and wreak untold and unknowable havoc. It would defy the balance and the order of things, and so it was unacceptable.

Xos watched content as his [b]brother's[/b] tattered simulacrum gave way to a much more vibrant and robust form. How strange that he found himself in the position where he had to [i]force[/i] Zephyrion to gorge himself lest the fool wither away and starve, but here he was. The things that he did for love.

It quickly became clear that he wasn't purely interested in feasting upon the power, though. Wider and wider Xos leveraged the rift. What had at first been a trickle of power leaking through was now a gushing geyser, comparatively. Yet more and more strands of magic were pulled through, and soon Xos had created an unstoppable cascade.

[color=00FF7F]"Lend me your power; we must harness this excess. Trap it. Compress it. Then we will be able to shape it to our will."[/color]

Zephyrion lost all sense of time perception. He struggled with all his willpower and he endured. After some unknowable time the tides stopped and Xos finally released his crushing grip on Zephyrion's hand. In the god's palm was a tiny, glowing orb of magic: a pearl of divine power, just a tiny spark.

And yet that spark was made of the same primal energies that could build and remake entire planes, and so within the Primordial Spark alone was the power to create or obliterate nigh anything in imagination. Perhaps even to alter reality. The Primordial Spark radiated a blinding amount of light and its passive aura would be enough to incinerate many beings. But with hardly a thought, Xos absorbed it into his sable essence and his own destructive body prevented even the slightest hint of the Spark's light or power from seeping through, yet Zephyrion knew that not even Xos was powerful enough to simply dissolve or consume such a thing. No, it remained untouched and trapped within the god's inky body. It was a perfect hiding spot.

The two stared into one another and silently contemplated what they had just done.

Finally, words came from Xos. [color=00FF7F]"That will be enough,"[/color] Xos declared after what had felt like an eternity. [color=00FF7F]"Unless you have finally acquired a taste for power, that paltry amount will suffice. Now the other gods might be able to look unto us without choking upon their own delusional laughter. You allowed us to weaken, but now we are strong once more. Just as we should be. And this pearl--the Primordial Spark, I shall name it--with it, the odds have been more than evened. None of them could challenge our might now."[/color]

[b][color=Gold]"I...you were right. I was fading away into nothingness. Thank you. But know that you forced my hand in creation that...that [i]weapon[/i] of mass destruction. That spark should not exist; I see doom looming over it."[/color][/b]

[color=00FF7F]"Your gratitude is welcomed and your doubt and paranoia go ignored by I; I knew you would cower before such a thing and that is exactly why there was no discussion over it. Power exists to be wielded and this Catalyst will prove most useful to our safety and our ambitions alike. You will see in due time."[/color]

With an exhausted sigh Zephyrion relented. Argument with Xos was nigh hopeless. [b][color=Gold]"There is something else, too. The power, that within the well that you tapped...it was vast, but there should have been more. Have you drank from it?"[/color][/b]

Xos froze. By power of will he suspended himself in the empty void, his shrouded form hanging down into the nothingness like a drape. The figurative curtain did little to hide the god's inner turmoil, for his entire body began to oscillate and shake violently with unconcealed rage. [color=00FF7F]"Never before now. You fool! Do you see the consequences of your inaction? Whilst you slept far from Galbar and cowered from the other gods, some worthless [i]leech[/i] found a way to siphon our divine power!"[/color]

Xos began to tremble even more wildly. Were it not for the calming touch of Zephyrion's incorporeal hand as it shot forth, the raging embodiment of destruction might well have gone unhinged and on a rampage. As it is, Xos seemed to barely contain himself.

Until the moment that he suddenly became deathly still and regained that cold demeanor that he usually favored. [color=00FF7F]"This changes nothing; it only reaffirms that we must return to Galbar. I will see to it that they are all punished. I will annihilate the False Users that stole our power. All of those that stood by idly as you were banished will similarly see my wrath, and as for those the One that summoned the Tyrannical Two and [i]dard[/i] presume to judge a Supreme Being...for me, his agony alone will not suffice."[/color]

[b][color=Gold]"Reflect upon the source of this rage and calm yourself. Were it not for my banishment, I would not have meditated upon myself. Were it not for their actions and my subsequent introspection, you would not have been spawned."[/color][/b]

[color=00FF7F]"You are right. I would have remained forever a part of you, as things were meant to be. But alas, I exist and was born, and now we may never be totally as one. But we may try.

As in for [i]them[/i], your reasoning does not sway my sentiment. You think too much, brother. Let me wield the Spark against Galbar, and then they will no lon-"[/color]

[b][color=Gold]"NO!"[/color][/b]

Xos stopped as if the forcefulness of that one word had struck him.

[b][color=Gold]"Galbar means too much to me. It is mine as much as theirs, and to disrupt its balance would oppose be...anathema to what I am now and to the ideals that I have come to embrace."[/color][/b]

[color=00FF7F]"You know that I do not share in these delusions of yours--why entertain notions of 'order' or 'balance'? They are nothing more than the shackles of restraint dressed in a florid form; chains of gold are chains all the same."[/color]

[b][color=Gold]"And yet you will exercise restraint, because you know that I demand it."[/color][/b]

[color=00FF7F]"...so be it, then. I surrender to your adamance here, but I shall remember this; I think you will not be so pleased when the times comes that I demand the favor returned.

I will spare that world from the full extent of my fury, but know that I will not rest until we have our vengeance. Are you ready to leave this hole at last?"[/color]

[b][color=Gold]"No....not yet. I must recuperate from this exertion, but go on. I will soon follow in your steps. When next we meet it will be upon Galbar, I promise."[/color][/b]

The darkened one nodded. He stole one last look at his forlorn brother, and then the Shadow of Zephyrion faded away and melted into the void. His presence reappeared a universe away. From the darkness of space there seeped forth a turbulent, inky cloud of nothingness. It took form, and then it conjured coverings to hide its body. Unseen but ever present, the Spark remained inside of him.

His travel thus complete in the mere blink of an eye, the minute Shadow hung over Galbar and gazed at the planet with a sight that could pierce stone. Were it that the Shadow of Zephyrion ever inhaled, that sight might have stolen his breath. Xos had already known of the planet and all its inhabitants, but only through the memories he had inherited from Zephyrion. To see it in person was something else entirely.

It appeared a far more...[i]disgusting[/i] and [i]flawed[/i] place when the lenses of his brother's emotional memories could not warp the truth.

[hr]

Galbar was many things, but defenseless it was not. Atop a high mountain in the Ironhearts there was a guardian standing in silent vigil. The onslaught of the Chaos Hordes, the desolation of the Realta, and the plague of the Acayla had all been egregious attacks upon this world built by his brethren, and yet Kyre had acquiesced himself to playing only a small role.

For lack of his own decisiveness, or (though his mind dreaded not to wander there!) perhaps even cowardice, he had allowed the heavy burden of championing the planet and its inhabitants to fall onto others. [i]Vowzra, Teknall, even Toun...[/i]

They had all done more to defend Galbar than he, and that was his everlasting shame. It weakened his sense of worth and with that, his power waned too. [i]Ha![/i] What irony it was that his mighty sword had the was only a feather to him, and yet his invisible trepidation bore down with the weight of a thousand mountains. What irony it was that the honorable lord of war and greatest fighter among all the divines was plagued by such uncertainty.

Kyre sighed. Like a bored child, he kicked at a pebble (though others might have called it a boulder!) and watched as it rolled down the mountainside. That was the first time he had moved in many years.

He looked to the nighty sky above and beheld the splendor of all the stars. Knowing of their making made no difference; their brilliance was just as enthralling to he as it was to any mortal below. The stars had heartbeats of their own, their light glowing and then fading back and forth in a cycle. He was watching them when he saw a spot of darkness flit across the sky. It covered not even one whole star as was suspended in the sky, but Kyre's eyes spotted it all the same. He stared in curiosity, and as he did so a foreboding feeling welled up in his gut. After some time the figure began to descend. Without even thinking, Kyre leaped from his perch atop the mountain. In ten great strides he ran to the horizon and there he witnessed the strange being as it descended onto the ground. If it had been trying to hide from him, it wasn't as stealthy as it seemed to think.

Closer now, he was able to behold the strange being before him. Its outward form was a suit of armor, covered in parts by a rippling cloak of that same fabric from which a starless night sky was woven. What was within that hollow shell was more far more mysterious and intriguing: Kyre sensed that this was some being of great power, yet as it wreathed itself in that shadow guise and suppressed its presence he could discern nothing of its nature.

So he accosted the foreboding figure and asked. [color=orange]"Halt, stranger! What manner of being are you, and why have you come here?"[/color]

It turned to look at him. From behind that metal mask its face betrayed not even the slightest hint of emotion, and the air too was as still as death for the being's garb seemed to hide and suppress its aura. There a silence as long as death, and when it finally became so tense that it might have shattered like glass, the being spoke. [color=00FF7F]"Kyre. Hmph. I had expected more."[/color]

[color=orange]"Who are you? What are you?!"[/color] Kyre demanded with an edge of anger biting into his tone now.

Some sound that resembled tortured wheezing reverberated from within the being's armor. It removed its helmet to show him. Kyre stared into the being's eyes and beheld its visage for only a moment before the thing's very aura assailed his senses and forced him to avert his eyes. The wheezing sound became recognizable as laughter no that it wasn't distorted by the apparition's strange helmet. A sudden gale of wind swept across the ground. Kyre sensed the blades of grass, the leaves on the trees, and even the pebbles and soil wither and crumble. That wind and the thing's presence caused all to atrophy.

Kyre had only glimpsed the apparition's face for a brief moment, but it had looked like a familiar shadow...and then there was the wind...[color=orange]"Zephyrion?"[/color] Kyre asked. Behind that one word there was a muddy mixture of emotion with the depth of an ocean. Uncertainty crept into the god's tone, but so too did a sort of hope--hope that this horrible thing was no eldritch monster, merely a long-lost brother.

But instead of the response that he wanted, Kyre felt the air catch on fire. Without that helmet to conceal its turbulent emotions, Kyre felt a wave of rage surge out from the being at the very mention of that name.

[color=00FF7F]"You will know me by three words: your [b]oblivion[/b], this world's [b]ruination[/b], and [b]retribution[/b]."[/color]

[color=orange][b]"WHAT ARE YOU?!"[/b][/color] Kyre roared one final time. He waited for no answer. In one solid and continous motion, he flew towards the apparition, drew his sword, and slashed with all his divine strength. His blow could have cleaved a mountain in twain.

Xos raised an arm. There was a torrential rain of sparks and agonized screech of metal as the sword met with armor. But before time could test whether the sword would have bitten through or been deflected, Xos had vanished.

Kyre felt the Shade disappear in the very instant that he had struck it, and in the very next instant it had reappeared behind him. He spun to face it once more, but as he turned a blast of ruinous energy struck the back of his leg. He felt his muscles atrophy and all strength ebb away, so his spin turned into more of a fall. He landed in a kneeling position supported by his good leg and the palm of his left hand. With his right hand he gripped his sword and tried to wrest free from the cloying grasp of the Shade; it was on his back and reaching over his shoulder to try and steal the blade.

The apparition's uncovered face pressed closer to Kyre's own and even being in that close proximity was enough to cause agony. With a mighty roar, Kyre the warrior-god banished his fear and his doubts. In that moment, fueled by adrenaline, he was whole again. Through sheer force of will he regained his strength once more, easily tore his sword-hand free of the being's grip, and reached back with the other hand to pull it off his back--but then there was a deafening thunder and a blinding light, and then there was nothing.

[hr]

An unminded wind drifted freely through a restful night sky, but alas, Fate did not grant the djinni such serendipity and peace on that night. He stumbled across the scene and looked on from above, frozen in horror but also in fear; Aihtiraq was no fighter, and to watch such great powers flung back and forth was to be a leaf caught in a storm.

Transfixed, Aihtiraq watched the fight. All five seconds of it. He watched with enthrallment as the gruesome end finally came; from somewhere deep inside the shadowy apparition's body there had emerged a scintillating pearl of the most pristine and brilliant light imaginable. It had been exposed for only a second, but that second was enough; Xos had channeled its power into one horrific attack that felled Kyre in an instant. It didn't simply shatter Kyre's mind or pierce his heart; it blew apart half his body and rendered the corpse nigh unrecognizable. The deathblow came from behind, dealt in the very moment that Xos had sensed his control wavering. He never was one for fair fights. But neither was he one for chances.

As in for Aihtiraq, on that night he was one for sorrow. His tear-filled eyes watched on in mute horror.

[hr]

Xos examined his work. [color=00FF7F][i]'Where were you when Zephyrion was seized and banished? You stood by with the other conspirators, and then dared to utter the name of the one you betrayed. And dared attack me! Were it that I could kill you a hundred times again...'[/i][/color]

Suddenly calm now that his game was over, Xos stood and examined his work for perhaps a moment before he spat. His oily black slavor consumed the corpse just as a corrosive acid ate at metal; there was hissing and bubbling and foul vapors, at then in a few moments nothing more remained of Kyre than a skeleton and his sword. It seemed that those parts of the dead weakling contained enough power and fortitude to withstand his innately destructive presence.

The question then became what to do with these remains. This sign of his work, whilst admirable, would also attract unwanted attention and no doubt bring down the ire of the other fools. This evidence needed to be removed, though the recent creation of the Primordial Spark had left him far too drained for some frivolous use of power like fully destroying those things.

With a flick of his hand he sent forth a withering wind that made the magnificent blade crack and fall apart, rendering the thing into a small assortment of useless pieces of metal. With morbid joy and savage strength, he used his own hands to similarly dismember the skeleton until there was nothing but a heap of assorted bones and metal fragments. Xos gathered them up then ascended into the night sky once more.

One small raindrop fell upon Xos from above, even though there were no clouds. He replaced his helmet.

Looking down upon Galbar, his eyes were drawn towards the Shattered Plains. The [i]Changing[/i] Plains. There the taint of Vestec's corruption was so overpowering that it would mask any traces of this weakling's aura, and there the forces of chaos would shift the land itself and swallow the macabre heap to hopefully never be seen. So with little more thought to his plan than that, Xos flung the heap down below with the same wanton indifference and lack of dignity that he would afford to any other rubbish.

And then with that dealt with, his mind wandered to other things. There was much work to be done, and so little time to do it. Very far in the distance, his divine senses could make out the faint outline of a gleaming structure that loomed over the world below. What finer place to begin?

[hider=Summary]
Well this is the most important post I've made in a while. The title Vastatio means 'devastation' or 'to lay waste' and this involves the arrival of Xos on Galbar and the subsequent killing of Kyre. You should read it![hider=Setting]
This story picks up right where [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4219401]Triumvirate[/url] left off, so you might want to take a look at Triumvirate's second section again even if you've already read it. That conversation with the two unnamed voices is revealed to have been between Xos and Zephyrion. Unlike the Vetros, ogre, and Ventus plotlines that are happening really far behind the rest of the RP, these events are happening roughly in the present time.[/hider][hider=The Big Xos Reveal]
You there, wondering what a Xos even is. Yeah, you. I see you. Have a [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4160127]link[/url] to look at this post where Xos first appears.

To those of you that remembered the mysterious figure named Xos that had been terrorizing Zephyrion's planet Caelum and all the little bird people on it, this post finally reveals that Xos is...not Zephyrion. Except he sort of is.

Eons of contemplation within Chronos left Zephyrion changed, so the god meditated and slowly tried to rid himself of the madness, the extremity, and the [i]chaos[/i] of his personality. And it worked; Zephyrion is now a relatively calm, wizened, and logical god that is much more mature and barely recognizable from the being that he once was.

But he paid a terrible price: the supposedly negative aspects that he tore free from himself took form and manifested into Xos, a full-fledged god that shares Zephyrion's divine might and power but embodies only the destructive side of Change. For all his cruelty and destructive nature, Xos at least has an unhealthy love for his [b]brother[/b] Zeph. Zeph, weakened but still somewhat sympathetic to the guy, thinks of Xos as his rogue [b]son[/b].[/hider][hider=General events of this post]After Xos demanded that Zephyrion grasp his hand in the last post, they channeled an unimaginable amount of power out of the Mechanism of Change. Whoops! There goes all of Zeph's MP.

It's revealed that Xos is a god of destruction and change that was formed when Zephyrion meditated and literally tried to sever himself from that aspect of his former personality. Xos and Zephyrion, whilst independent, are intertwined and share the same source of divine power. The difference is that Xos is the embodiment of ruination, so while he is the more powerful of the two he is incapable of wielding his divine power to do anything more than cause destruction. 

In any case, they both level up 3 times.

Together (though mainly with Xos' initiative and forcing hand) the pair create the Primordial Spark for 25 MP. The Primordial Spark is a condensed bit of the same sort of magic and energy that was used to build the Universe after the Codex was written. It's a tiny orb of pure energy with such unfathomable amounts of power that its potential may as well be infinite. Nonetheless, Xos takes it intending to use it as nothing more than a weapon against other gods.

Having sensed that the Mechanism of Change was tampered with (by Ventus) and siphoned from (in reality this siphoning was when it spilled over and Aihtiraq was created), Xos goes on over to Galbar to punish what he emphatically refers to as the False Users. Zephyrion successfully pleads with Xos to show restraint and not just try to use the Spark to destroy the entire planet and every god within sight. Zephyrion is weak and struggling to regain his strength, but promises to soon follow Xos and return to Galbar.

Xos arrives very near to Kyre, and the guardian god senses Xos' great power but can't recognize him. He demands to know what manner of being stands before him, but Xos is sadistic and just revels in the opportunity to fight whilst claiming self defense. Kyre is slain and Xos devours the god's heart and takes the head as a trophy. Xos spits on the rest of the body and his saliva dissolves and destroys much of it. 

This all goes down very quickly and relatively quietly; the only signs of Kyre's demise are that his weak but lingering presence totally vanished, and Xos scatters the few surviving pieces of Kyre's corpse into the Changing Plains where they will presumably be swallowed up by the ground and never found.

Aihtiraq, unnoticed by Xos, witnessed Kyre's fate.

Xos moves on to somewhere else in Galbar after realizing that he has some work to do.[/hider][/hider]
[hider=Might Summary]
[b]BEFORE:[/b]
Zephyrean Pantheon - L3 - 45 MP - 8 FP

-21 MP to level from 3 to 6
-25 MP (using the 4:1 FP to MP conversion ratio to make 1 extra MP so as to avoid going negative) to make the Primordial Spark
-1 FP to shatter Kyre's sword

[b]AFTER:[/b]
Zephyrean Pantheon - L6 - 0 MP - 3 FP
[/hider]