[center] [h2][b]The Monarch of All[/b][/h2]

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The mists of the Tlacan coiled and spun about themselves like a forest of writhing pillars, gently swaying under the breath of a mournful breeze. The sea was a dark mirror, unmoving save for the reflections wavering on its surface, eerily perfect on their undistorted canvas. Even along the shores of the barren, grey island, which in any other sea would have been frothing upon its many jutting rocks and low, sharp cliffs, it was still like oil, not even a drop splashing up to run through the crags carved in more turbulent bygone days.

Perched on a stony protrusion thrust out into the indifferent black waters, Iqelis stared out into the hazy labyrinth, now and then raising an arm to send a bank of fog scattering without a stir of wind. Even the flies that surrounded him sat about apathetically. Some paces behind him seven human bodies stood arranged in a semicircle, still nearly featureless and untouched in their primordial state. After what had happened with that first, ever so unassuming shell, the god had been hesitant to lay hands on them. Ending a life had been nothing but elating, but birthing one had brought a swirl of contradictory and painful sentiments.

He knew which one he preferred by far.

[b][i]“Good day, Iqelis. It is not often I see you sitting around in a malaise.”[/i][/b]

A familiar voice spoke to him, a rift opened in front of Iqelis, showing nothing more than the Monarch of All sitting upon His throne and gazing down upon the stagnant god. He had spoken with no outward emotion, nothing dictating on why the ruler had decided to contact one of His lords. The Monarch of All tilted His head to the side as he observed Iqelis, though, it seemed more of a ponderance as to why Iqelis was merely sat in deep thought that He had never truly seen in the entropic god. This did not stop the Monarch of All from straightening himself to allow an air of menace to coalesce as He spoke again, this time in a more authoritative tone that wrought yet more of that menace that gathered around the supreme god.

[b][i]”You and Yudaiel are testing my patience; twin murderers in this realm of mine. Tell me, why did you kill your peer?”[/i][/b]

The One God turned up his eye without rising from his crouch, giving him the appearance of a ghoul caught by surprise in the middle of its meal. His dull gaze flared up as it met his Maker, its dusky pensiveness overtaken by the blazing, mocking bravado that it had spat onto the world since the dawn of its birth.

[color=778899]”As the treacherous Eye has no doubt given her account, so shall I.”[/color]

He raised four arms at the window through sidereal space, and spoke in the tongue of thought and vision.

[color=778899]A river flowed through a verdant plain, caressed by the rays of a small yet vigilant sun high above. Its waters were placid and murky, but its touch was no less vivifying than if it had been of the clearest crystal. Along its banks, tall grasses and reeds swayed and drooped, crowned with strange and beautiful flowers, and from them life spread to flourish across the land in a mosaic of stalks and shrubs of many colours. Shimmering insects danced above the water, sapphire dragonflies and emerald beetles, and bright and plump fish splashed through the current.

But then there was a rumble, and a huge grey boulder came rolling across the meadow before landing in the river with a splash. So large was it that the water could not flow around it, no matter how it twisted and churned and mounted. It gathered itself up in heavy waves, trying to push the obstacle out of its way, but the obstinate boulder would not budge from its spot, and every shove only made it more and more entrenched in the silt.

Starved of motion, the river quickly began to die. On one side of the stone the water kept rising, until it flooded out of its banks, uprooting and drowning the flowering reeds on its two sides. With nowhere for its refuse to flow, it pooled and stagnated, growing foul and malodorous. The grasses and bushes rotted, poisoned by the rank tide, and no more did dragonflies and beetles dance over this putrid marsh, but only the ugly gnat and the noisome mosquito held their feasts there. On the other side of the boulder, the land fared no better. No more water came to quench its thirst, and little by little it became parched and dead. Yellow grass and faded flowers lay choking in the dust, and the riverbed was empty save for the decomposing carcasses of fish.

Then a hand of black glass struck down from the darkened sky and shattered the boulder into tiny pieces, and the river breathed a sigh as it began to flow again. The impurities of the swamp were carried away downstream, never to be seen again, and the banks and the land around them were reborn to flowering bounty, stirred only by the joyful dances of insects and fish.[/color]

With a snap of a claw, Iqelis spoke again.

[color=778899]”There is no virtue in pure obstinacy. I have struck down one who would in time have hampered not only my work, but your own designs as well.”[/color]

The Monarch of All’s eyes flared with an intense glow as He allowed the words of Iqelis to stew before offering His own response. Though a sigh seemed to signify annoyance at having to once more sit through visions and thought, rather than speech. With a clasp of two of His hands together, the great Lord of the Gods spoke once more in the same commanding tone, offering little respite, His voice boomed in frustration.

[b][i]”You are out of line to say that my design would have been hampered, Iqelis! You know not my will other than my orders to create a world and fill it with life, not to kill another god and bring about more of an ending!”[/i][/b]

He stopped for a moment, holding His speech before slyly leaning back within His seat and bringing the tips of all of His hands together. Once more, speaking but this time with a voice that conveyed a sneer and mockery, He said with a light chuckle.

[b][i]”Yet, for a god so bent upon entropy and decay, you have created life. I have seen it. That ‘thing’ that came from the shell. You truly are bold for allowing such an abomination to exist, surely for a half-breed to exist would be against my design, no?”[/i][/b]

[color=778899]”Do not taunt me over that, Lord of Beginnings!”[/color] Iqelis drew up, the many pairs of his hands folding together at the knuckles one after the other. Though he was still dwarfed by the Monarch’s presence, by some trickery of the light his shadow stretched over the mouth of the rift like a long arm. [color=778899]”I know full well that her life is in breach of laws far greater than us both. And still I will not have one of [i]mine[/i] suffer for a mistake that was not hers. Would you turn your hand against yourself, if you happened to unravel a corner of your creation’s weave? You may not shrink from sacrifice,”[/color] a dark finger pointed at the shining wound in the Great One’s chest, [color=778899]”But bloodshed is not the only guise it may take, nor the integrity of creation the only cause it may honour.”[/color]

The Monarch of All was silent for a moment, contemplating the words of Iqelis in an air rife with tension and growing anger before it was quickly cut by the Monarch of All’s shadow appearing behind Iqelis, His visage gone from the rift within a fraction of a second. His gargantuan form loomed over the entropic god, standing just beyond the island and within the oceans of Sala. The four hands of the Monarch of All bore claws far fiercer than Iqelis’ own, though now they rested at His side. His voice cast out all other noise; the wave, the wind, all gone.

[b][i]”And yet you do not share that same mercy towards your fellow lords. Why should I impart any mercy upon you at this moment? After all, I could merely end you just as you had to him. They share your blood, just as you share blood with me. Clearly, a kinslayer such as yourself does not care, though.”[/i][/b]

Under his withering glare, the lesser divine lowered himself into a ghast-like crouch again, arms folded at his sides like a crystalline spider’s segmented legs, but still he stared up with the symbolic defiance of a lurking snake.

[color=778899]”Without me, who would turn the Flow?”[/color] hissed the friction of a glacier against the granite mountainside, [color=778899]”Who would ensure that your universe was not washed away faster than your thralls can build it? Aletheseus contributed nothing to the workings of the cosmos, but I am not him, and I cannot be drowned in the Last Sea as easily.”[/color]

[b][i]”You have done nothing but bring destruction and turmoil to my realm! You, Iqelis, have done little more than be a pest! You do not ensure that things are erased for you are the very cause of it!”[/i][/b]

His voice split caused waves of water to erupt, the very land of the island that Iqelis was splitting as the Monarch of All’s anger grew and grew. The great one pointed to the moon of Yudaiel, a single claw pointing at the enemy of Iqelis, as He spoke in anger once more.

[b][i]”She was punished for her sins and now it is time for yours!”[/i][/b]

As He spoke, the supreme deity allowed a moment for the lands to stop their trembling and for the waters to calm themselves before He spoke once more upon judgement. Animosity was held back within His voice, a clear desire to end the God of Doom like the very insects that he had spawned, though he did not act upon it. The Monarch of All gave His statement in a near quiet hiss towards His subject.

[b][i]”You will send your abomination, Ea Nebel, to collect the shard of Aletheseus for me. However, for her, you will impart four separate trials to prove her worth so that she may not be ended by my hand. Yet, should you hold back upon any of these trials, I will end both her and you. Am I understood?”[/i][/b]

As the waves and tremors settled around them, there was stillness for a moment. It was not merely the silence of the Tlacan, but the ominous torpor of a gathering tempest, the fog itself darkening as it collected after being stirred and the sky turning anxiously leaden.

Then the clouds burst.

Iqelis was no longer crouching, nor was he standing low at the Monarch’s feet. His umbral body stretched to the heavens, a skeletal mountain of many-armed night, rivalling the stature of the Prime God himself - though unlike in him, there was no true substance in its fluid darkness, but merely the illusionary embodiment of wrathful pride. Atop this terrible eikon there shone a beacon of cold, hungry light, which drew all radiance from the world into itself and spat out chilling scorn and suffocating shadow. The sky swam with the distorted view of a rushing tide of stygian water, whether vomited out from the one-eye or pouring out from unseen angles of existence which had until then mercifully concealed its rippling and roiling. Towering clouds of buzzing vermin whipped around this figure of apocalyptic prophecy, threatening to fill the world with swarming legs and bloody bulbous eyes.

[color=778899]”Challenge me all you will, Old One, and I shall put every petty trial to shame,”[/color] the One God’s voice was the wail of all terrestrial and astral spheres crying out in the grip of preternatural torment, [color=778899]”But leave her out of your games, or you will rue the day when you rashly spilled your ichor into the void. Every drop and every pebble of the Galbar will come unwound before your eyes, your sun will putter out like the most pitiful of sparks, and your despair alone will remain to mourn when you pass into oblivion.”[/color]

[b][i]”I have spoken my will, Iqelis. Thus, it shall be done, lest you’d rather me end you here and now for your transgressions. You cannot challenge me through might, you know such things, that is why you prey upon the weak.”[/i][/b]

[color=778899]”Perhaps not I alone,”[/color] the immense shadow grew longer and thinner, its voice more dry and sibilant, [color=778899]”But what would your vaunted champion the Earthheart think if you snuffed out the one he cherished so? What would be the word of she of the spear, so devoted to your service now, if you dissipated that which bears her essence? Your loyalty does not reach as far as your hand, First Source, and you know that. Will you stoke that flame further to satisfy your whim?”[/color]

A scoff came from the Monarch of All, gazing upon the form of Iqelis as if He had a cruel grin crossing His blank features. He wrapped His arms around His back, unafraid of the threats that Iqelis made to His face, almost admiring his boldness for such a display. Then, as if the silence returned in force, He spoke in a snide, condescending tone.

[b][i]”Four trials, Iqelis. I will have Ruina, She who Tests, watch to ensure you do not interfere with the success of your progeny and ensure that you do not hold back after all. Additionally, Homura will make sure you uphold this.”[/i][/b]

The Monarch of All took a singular step back, the bridge to the Divine Palace opening behind Him and casting a light that was too much for the hungry light of Iqelis’ form to consume. He allowed a few parting words to grace the One God, His words echoing and consuming the thoughts of Iqelis as what could be a threat resonated through the air. Once the utterance was finished, the Monarch of All stepped into the bridge and disappeared from Iqelis. Despite no longer being there, His words continued to echo.

[b][i]”I look forward to meeting Ea Nebel.”[/i][/b]

The great white eye glared at his tracks for a few more instants, then the shadows melted into the sea, and the otherworldly penumbra was gone. All that was left was Iqelis’ spindly silhouette, no longer swollen with horrid glamours, but staring out at the immobile wastes once again. Yet now his sight was no more darkened with despondent meditation, for a bright and cruel resolve had taken its place, woven with the sneering eagerness of arrogance rising to a challenge. The god loped over to where the seven unmoulded humans still stood, miraculously intact after the titanic altercation that had shaken the world around them.

[color=778899]”Your doom was always sealed, Old One, as was that of us all,”[/color] he creaked, a familiar crooked smile finding its way into his voice.

He reached out with seven arms, and seven taloned fingers plucked out an eye from each of the stolid faces. None of the seven would ever vaunt a wider sight than that of their master.

[color=778899]”But I did not guess you were so eager to meet it.”[/color]


[hider=Summary]

On an island somewhere in the Tlacan Sea, Iqelis is thinking about what to do with his seven humans, and about how parenthood isn’t quite as easy nor fun as murder. The Monarch appears before him, chastising him for the killing of Aletheseus, to which he trots out the “it was necessary” excuse. The Monarch isn’t pleased at how Iqelis claims to know what [i]his[/i] universe needs, nor is he happy about Ea Nebel’s birth. As the wayward god’s penance, he imposes on him to send Ea on a pilgrimage to Aletheseus’ grave and put her through four trials to see if she’s worthy of living on his turf; else both will get squashed. This sends Iqelis into a rage, and he threatens to unmake everything, Monarch included, if the latter so much as touches a hair on his daughter’s head. The Primordial, unimpressed, promises to assign some trustworthy eyes to check that everything goes as he commanded before leaving.

Left alone, Iqelis marks his humans in his typically vicious style, and starts to entertain ambitions of regicide.

[i]No Vigour spent here.[/i]
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