Member
Lord Zee
Vec
JFK
Fetzen
Thayr
BingTheWing
&
Azazael of His Breath, Level 1 Hero
There was a silence in her domain, no sound to echo through her tunnels or even a breath. It was simply the goddess and her room of molten rock and energy. The Devourer was in a state close to sleep, undisturbed and satisfied with her current situation, albeit still quite hungry as she always was. It was calm, the heat from the magma felt good, especially as it was being absorbed by the goddess who simply wanted nothing more than this silence and warmth. Yet the matter of her hunger was still and issue, and it made her somewhat saddened though she didn’t know the feeling of sadness in its entirety as she simply didn’t understand.
With a sigh she got up and walked out of her room, pushing the door open by lightly pressing her hand against it. Kikoquatl transformed to her devouring form and simply began to burrow upwards, adding another tunnel to her cave system. She was quick about it as well, the rock proving to be of little resistance to her. It was a time consuming process though, going through rock and eating it to make these new tunnels, it could be easier if she put in more effort, but she did not feel like it. Now it was a matter of time before she grew tired again.
As his kindred set off to trace their own quarries, Azazael remained suspended in the sky for some time as he rested above the gaping maw of darkness. The cavernous opening gouged into the earth seemed to twist and turn upon itself; the Watcher suspected that the part he could see from outside was only a fraction of the chthonic depths. He descended closer and fell upon the chasm's rim as lightly as a leaf. A singular pebble nonetheless was scattered into the abyss, and though he saw it tumble down he did not hear it land upon the bottom.
But he did feel...something. There were the faintest of tremors, as if something something far below was thrashing with such fury that the earth itself heaved in pain. Never one to be afraid, he jumped into the gaping pit and let his wings slow the fall.
The darkness very quickly grew around Azazael, unlike him the being he was hunting for did not care for the darkness and was genuinely unaffected by it for she had made these tunnels. However, very suddenly, the tremors stopped. Perhaps the source of the disturbance had sensed his presence. He was still, hanging against the rocky side of the cavern for a long time as he contemplated what to do next. By now, the light from the surface above was but the faintest gleam above and he was nigh drowning in the dark. Moving on would be impossible, and he cared not to stumble blindly through the dark and right into the demon's clutches.
With a few quick beats of his wings, Azazael returned to the surface. But he was not defeated yet; he merely needed to think of a way to navigate the dark and labyrinthine tunnels. There were many gods and other beings around that could have been of assistance, though the Watcher knew not which to ask. There was the one called Seihdhara; she had seemed to take a liking to him, and then of course his master had not gone far either. But to walk dejectedly to Promus and beg him for assistance would be a shame too great to bear.
He cursed himself, for in his contemplation much time had passed and already it was growing close to dusk. But in the fading light, Azazael looked to the distant swamp created by the Carrion Lord, and to his amazement there were countless yellow lights. They moved about like tiny yellow stars, though these flickering lights were not nearly so far away as the heavens. He approached the lights and tried to find their source, but they danced away. With a swift rush through the air, he captured one in his hands. Even as he felt some sort of creature bouncing against the walls of his cupped hands, the light went dark. Moments later, the glow shone through the gaps between his fingers once again. It was a firefly.
Ah, so the light came from a living creature. That was good, he could make use of them then. He released the one that he had captured in his hands. "Come to me, little ones who light the night like stars," he bid the one that he had freed and all the others. Though mundane speech was just a meaningless vibration in the air to the insects, so powerful was the allure inherent in Azazael's voice that they understood and furthermore obeyed.
Surrounded by a small swarm of the fireflies, he entered the cave once more and descended into its depths with the glowflies as his light. As Azazael continued farther and farther down into the cave network, he found a labyrinth filled with many different twists and turns. At each intersection he was presented with two choices, left or right, occasionally up or down. Where he would make wrong turns, he found himself in a dead end or back to the same intersection, an endless loop of dead ends and twists. Or was he truly lost? The walls of the cave were uniform and it was impossible to tell where he was or if progress had actually been made.
Inevitably, Azazael had become the hunted, or rather the followed. It was not a massive beast that followed him nor was it a small worm. After one turn in a loop he would find himself face to face with the one who had been following him, Kikoquatl in her more humanoid form. She stood just outside the range of his light, her form just barely visible.
"You have been walking in a circle for a while now," she stated in a very neutral voice, staring at the feathered one.
The speaker's chitinous plates were wreathed in shadow thick enough to hide is body, but Azazael already knew the source of the voice. There was only one creature that it could have been, after all.
In that moment Hala might have fled and Makai would no doubt be in the midst of some apology, but the eldest brother was the bravest. "Though I bid the stone and the dark show me the way, they were silent. These tunnels try to muddle the way."
Kikoquatl cocked her head to the side. "What?"
"What would I find at their end?"
"Assuming you mean the tunnels, I guess it depends on the path you take. There are many different ways to go."
"Most end in nothing. But then what would the purpose of the tunnels be if they all did?"
"It is up to those who want to make something out of that nothing. Much like us gods have," Kikoquatl stated idly, before taking a step forward towards Azazael to reveal more over her form. A bright light appeared in the tunnel behind her a grew brighter as it drew closer. The ball of energy stopped between the two, emanating a light that made the tunnel appear as if the sun itself were lighting the room. "You are a strange speaker."
The fireflies about Azazael shied from the overpowering light and found their ways into what few shadows and dark recesses remained in the walls. But the Watcher, far from distraught at their disappearance, seemed amused. "I think that all other speakers must be strange, for my maker is Lord of Speech." In the span of the next moment he realized that he had betrayed his identity as well as that of Promus. But perhaps there had never been any such secret to speak of; after all, he had been created in the light of the dawn before any god that had thought to look up. He had seen Kikoquatl in those first moments, so she may have seen him too.
"The Lord of Speech? Who is that? I was the third god to be born into this world so I know must others. So who made you, little morsel?" the devourer asked moving closer to strange one. She stopped herself, taking a step back and bowing her head. "I am sorry, I do not mean to pry. That would be rude," Kikoquatl apologized, keeping herself firmly planted where she was, attempting to not be rude.
"But one of such beauty could never offend," the words immediately poured out with neither forethought nor worry of Promus' admonition.
Kikoquatl's mandibles opened up out of shock, making one noise in the process, "Ehh?
He took a silent step closer and lowered the prideful wings that shielded his face.
The goddess stood still, unknowing of what to do in the situation, before asking "Who are you?" Her eyes scanned Azazael, she found nothing extraordinary about him other than his bright red hair and speech pattern, but she could do very little about her confusion of what the being was doing. She had no concept of love to run off of, thus not knowing the seduction tactics the angel was employing, never having really experienced many emotions other than hunger and the small amount of happiness she felt by being nice to Seihdhara. The two antennae that curled behind her head perked up for a moment before falling back into place, Kikoquatl wondering just what to do about this thing that had entered her cave.
"Azazael," he answered. "Blessed of Seihdhara, son and servant of Promus."
"Son of Promus? What business do you have in my caves?"
"You," he answered with truth purer than the clearest water. "I came to find you. Why do you retreat into the depths and hide such elegance from the world?"
Another step closer, and the makings of a smile. "What is the wonder of the stars when compared to your majesty, Lady Kikoquatl?"
"Wha-" was the only response the goddess could give, if she had the ability to blush she would, as she realized what these words from the angel meant. She quickly brought herself back down from her thoughts, before answering him in a subtle, more flustered tone, "I came down here because there was too many things happening up there. Everything was happening so fast and I was not needed." However, she did not answer the second question, simply unknowing of how to respond.
"What works down here could be of greater import than witnessing the creation of the world?"
"A home," she answered simply. "Would you like to see?"
Without trepidation, Azazael answered, "I would be honored."
Kikoquatl walked forward to the angel and raised one of her hands around his great wings to lay it upon his shoulder, within the blink of an eye they were both in the center of her home. The magma providing the warm color while the light from the ball of energy situated itself in the ceiling once more, however, it was less harsh. The jack-o-lantern stared at the two, seemingly smiling evil with the plot forming in the strange head that it had. "Welcome to my home, made it all myself without magic. Except for the magma, you can thank that for doing it," she stated pointing her finger at the ball of energy. It was a cozy little place, though still large considering it could hold her in her larger form, though it did lack furniture and other things that would make it seem less empty.
It was impressive. He regarded the vacuous expanse and allowed his features to indicate a modest yet flattering level of astonishment. He had not known what to expect at the bottom of such a formidable expanse of black tunnels (hewed by what Promus had unflattering called a 'demon,' no less) but it hadn't been...this.
For once he was at a loss for words; yet it was only for a moment.
"I have two brothers. Promus has decreed that we are to civilize what mortals may rise, to teach them how to build homes."
His eyes found their way to the farthest corners and took in the sheer scale of the room. "But you have created the first home. I doubt that any palace or redoubt will rival this for aeons to come, even if we were to offer divine aid to its builders."
He might have been rambling, but it didn't matter what Azazael said, so long as he kept speaking. He had already found that their were few forces so seductive or powerful as a voice whose user knew its power and wielded it well.
"I thank you," Kikoquatl said, her neutral tone coming back to her. She looked around at her handiwork once more, "It took a good amount of work."
"But what will you do now? You have a sanctuary, a realm august and venerable. But surely you must long for more than this? Surely you will grow lonely if you are to stay dormant in your hermetic home?"
"I- I don't know," She said, thinking to herself for a few moments before she looked around. Her body weight shifted onto one side, her focus moving from pillar to pillar. Then her hunger began to plague her once more, it was extremely bothersome and she disliked the feeling. "Perhaps I shall hold a feast, invite the gods and sport good relations amongst one another," Kikoquatl said, looking back at Azazael.
"It would be a gala of legend," a soothing voice agreed. "But I think it best that I leave soon; erelong I will be missed."
"That is a shame," Kikoquatle commented letting out something akin to a sigh before continuing on, "Be sure to visit, just make all lefts to get back here if you wish to see me again. I would not mind having the taste of a morsel." The phrase was all that Kikoquatl could do with flirtation, then she grabbed onto Azazael and teleported to the cave's entrance and then back to her home, only to question her actions at the end.
He left Kikoquatl with a parting smile, then paid heed to his surroundings. It was already morning, and there was no sign of his two brothers. They were probably making fools of themselves on their own tasks; if either of them had been in that tunnel in his stead, he had the sinking feeling that they might have been devoured.
With triumph, Azazael returned to the air and sought out Promus.
