salamimike
Hyperdrive
Lord Zee
Frettzo
mickilennialIt’s time to wake up and smell the snow flakes
The pair stood outside Benea’s room. The hallway was well lit and well adorned yet even so a shadow seemed to cling to the stark wooden door that separated them from the goddess on the other side. The guards were still there of course, but wore a worried look on their face as if they somehow had failed in their duties. Jermane waved Xavior to stand next to him and the pair approached the door.
Giving it a sturdy knock, Jermane called out. “My Queen?”
Nothing.
Another knock. “My Queen, Xavior is here to speak with you.”
Nothing.
The bodyguard looked at Xavior before stepping out of the way and motioning for him to give it a try.
The god frowned even though he had been told this was what had been occurring, and then made his own opening attempt “Benea, this.. Shutting yourself away entirely is quite concerning. I am aware that the… appearance of this snow god is quite disheartening, but surely this isolation is not the answer? I do not know if you are planning, working or despairing in there, but we need to stand together in this dark hour if we are to survive it”
He paused as a dark thought crept across his mind, prompting him to ask “Could you, at the very least, give us a sign that you are alive in there?”
A small shuffle could be heard behind the door, beckoning for Xavior to lean in. With her ear almost to the wood, the hinges suddenly creaked and Benea’s arm came bursting through the opening. Her fingers grabbed Xaviors collar and in one swift motion, pulled him into the room and slammed the door shut behind him.
Inside the room Xavior stood. Benea was behind him, already slumped back against the door, her back keeping it closed. She had her hands between her knees and her eyes were puffy with stress and perhaps sadness. Her usual dress was an icy blue and the veil that Tsunya had gifted her was lost in the mess that was the bed in the corner. The bow window was closed, and her dresser had been moved to block it.
The god whirled around to face her, his expression panicked till he saw her, at which point he was instead stunned and then, finally, once he had a moment to collect his thoughts he released a breath and with a mix of pity and concern asked: “Benea… what has happened to you?”
Before she could answer however he said “No, wait. We’ll sit first, and then we can talk this through” and then offered her a hand to help her rise, adding “If that is alright with you?”.
Letting loose a sharp sigh, Benea snagged Xavior’s hand and tugged on his arm until she was standing straight. “Very well, dear.”
Xavior waved his hand and pulled the table and chairs that the room had been furnished over so that they wouldn’t have to go far, let her take a seat and then took one himself, before asking “oh and would you care for some tea?”
Benea looked up from her seat for a moment before letting her forehead slam onto the table, her arms outstretched. “We are all doomed, darling.” She mumbled from her new position. A loud inhale. “So sure, tea.”
Xavior raised an eyebrow at her comment and. while internally it worried him a great deal, nothing would stop him from trying to be an impeccable host. As such cups and a teapot floated over and some water and tea leaves vanished from the temple kitchens and found themselves in the pot and cups respectively (something the chefs where more than used to at this point) after which the pot was quickly raised to the boil in Xavior's hand.
A few moments later, the god poured them both a cup of tea, then the pot was set down and after steeping for a bit the leaves were banished from the room. Xavior lifted his cup, gently blew on it and took a sip, the warmth and taste setting his own nerves as much as it was meant to help Benea, before he set it down and finally asked “So… how doomed are we exactly?”
Peeking up, Benea eyed her tea and sat up straight. She quickly hooked a finger on the arm of her cup and sipped at it. At the touch of the warm drink, Benea sank into her seat — some stress falling off her shoulders.
“I don’t know what is going to happen anymore,” She finally admitted. “First Anak’thas goes and does who knows what for whatever reason and now Garravar is somehow back. I can only imagine the rest of the crucible is imploding at this point.” She shook her head. “I just don’t know what to do, dear, I thought I did.”
Xavior wanted to put down her believing she knew what was going to happen to arrogance, but that felt unkind. “It is an unexpected event, that is for certain. That there is a godkiller on the loose, and one with more age and experience than us at that, is concerning” Xavior said somewhat academically, having only a second hand account of the vision of the ice god’s proven lethality “but if the path is no longer clear, then all we can do is improve, adapt and together overcome this new threat.” he suggested as a new path, before trying to be optimistic when he added “We at the very least have the numbers and, presumably, something of a headstart when it comes to amassing supporters, resources and artifacts to combat him.”
“He’s killed more gods than you have fingers, and he did it without any help, nodes, or frie-” Benea paused and frowned. She sipped her tea. “Garravar is a smart man, and worse still he already has a plan and we’ve already played into it.”
Xavior, teacup half raised to his lips and now halted there, paled at that information “That… is bad” he managed, shocked enough at the revelation as to not yet question where it had come from.
Benea retreated further into her chair and finished her tea in silence before adding, “I’m sorry, sweet Xavior.”
“For what?” a slumped in his chair Xavior replied, having set his cup down, stomach churning far too great to allow him to drink another drop, and then managed to at least try and regain some cordial demeanor while saying “This, this is dreadful news, but it is better to know it than to live in ignorance. I cannot blame the messenger…” then he paused, his brows furrowed as the back of his mind that had not been drowning in doom pointed out an inconsistent too him, which caused him to sit up a little and then finally ask that fateful question “but how do you know all this?”
Benea gaped for a moment before answering. “Which part?”
“The… all of it? Monica told me she saw the creator’s last moments in the old world, and the death of his leader at this ice gods hand … but this goes so far beyond that. How do you know so much about this Garravar?” He asked, his tone only slightly accusatory. Mostly he was just confused.
Letting out a long breath, Benea furrowed her brow. “I lived it. I was there when it all happened.”
“I…? What…” Xavior was stunned, and then, head held in his hands, his mind went into overdrive over several seconds before he thought he put it together “The creator... No... Peninal… his will wasn't too weak. He wanted his queen to win the crucible, so it gave him the closest it could. It gave her a second chance.” he looked up at her “You a second chance.”
“It was planned,” Benea affirmed. “It was the only way to get rid of Garravar, or so we thought. We also didn’t expect… the others.” She tucked a frown in her cheek. “We didn’t expect you, Anak’thas, Monica, any of you.”
“Why would running this again be needed to get rid of him…” he began to ask, and then stopped himself and then simply asked her to “just… explain it all from the beginning please.”
“Oh dear,” Benea furrowed her brow. “The beginning was a long time ago now, even I don’t know where it started…”
A pause.
“Before this crucible I was Queen Olipha and I commanded every god and every node.”
Xavier was, at this point, numb to revelation, so he just leaned back in his chair, picked up his unfinished tea and let her tell her story without interruption.
“Well anyway,” Benea continued, “there were 14 other gods under my command, including Peninal, his brother Faringdal and of course Garravar. By all means the world was in complete peace under my reign, as it was supposed to be. I am not exaggerating when I say that thousands of years went by without conflict, pain or suffering. Everything was in accordance with my will and we knew that if the triggering event were to happen, nothing would change under that will — we all knew except Garravar.”
A long pause as Benea collected her thoughts. “He was always different from the others, you see? He was clever and sharp, with a discerning eye and contagious voice. Something always bothered him about the nodes, and in a similar sickness to Anak’thas he eventually found himself obsessed with them — except obsessed in their study. I told him it was best if he let them be and let the peace reign but he was upset with the idea, he called it blissful ignorance and continued with his experiments.”
“Is this all making sense so far, dear?”
“Given what I know of our lot I’m both surprised and impressed you managed to wrangle 14 gods I’ll be honest,” Xavior admitted “but go on”
“The gods then were different than the gods now…” A sad look found Benea’s face. “But Garravar, as I was saying, was different even to them. He was our champion before he was our enemy. Now and again near the end of the peaceful reign we would get a chaos beast or two and every time we would call upon Garravar. He wielded a spear he named Tolbog and so long as he held it, he was unstoppable. His first victim was Auriel, the kindest goddess you could ever meet. Monica reminds me a little of her, and perhaps that was Peninal’s inspiration. She was helping him study the nodes, at my behest. I was foolish but optimistic in thinking that having her nearby would guide him gently away from the path he was taking, but no — she was murdered.”
Benea — Queen Olipha — looked into Xavior’s eyes. “She didn’t expect it, how could she? She was stabbed in the back by Tolbog.”
“And then… Everyone else. One by one,” Xavior said, already seeing how the story went, voice hollow as he asked, redundantly “and no one could stop him?”
“We killed him several times,” Benea answered almost chillingly, “but each time, he would simply be reborn. Anyone who had been bit by his spear but not killed became a vessel for him upon his death and he would burst from them. At some point all of us had been bitten and so the only way to get rid of him was to… let everything restart. Somehow he returned, and I’m not sure how. I’m scared, I have no idea how he broke through into a new crucible, especially after all we did to ensure he couldn’t.”
“Forgive my ignorance, but surely it would be Peninal?” Xavier pointed out, “It may have been a delayed return, but it was a return in the same manner nonetheless, if we consider the erasment experienced during the reshaping of the world under a god’s will as simply a death? Unless the reset you performed is more… intense than I am thinking it is?” aware that he was likely missing something.
"It shouldn't have, Peninal destroyed himself. Tolbog has never worked on the dead before." Benea ran a hand through her hair.
“Ahhhhhh piz” Xavior swore uncharacteristically after giving it a few moments of thought and realizing who was likely to blame “Grym did this. He reanimated Peninal‘s body and, presumably, allowed it to count as alive enough for Tolbog to return”
Staring at Xavior with wide eyes, Benea slouched back into her chair. "Well at least it wasn't a new trick."
“If I wasn't already going make that monster suffer before…” Xavior began to swear, before sighing, slumping into his chair like Benea and saying defeatedly that “I take it your box trick won't work either?”
“It didn’t really work well the first time,” Benea admitted. “Besides, he's a bit bigger than a lantern. Though we do have one advantage right now.”
Xavior’s sat up just a little at this hint of hope and asked “And that is?”
Sitting up to match Xavior, she continued, “Not every node is taken. He won’t execute his plans until every node is calmed. Granted we can’t just let the nodes stay unclaimed, but if we are smart about it — well I don’t know yet, but it’s a starting point. The only concern is those such as Anak’thas or the southern people who aren’t exactly amicable to plans and cooperation.”
“Perhaps the existence of a tangible and universale threat will be enough to bring us together, at least temporarily” he said, not entirely confident, but the fact that they had time did hearten him somewhat “You righend for thousands of years” he said, the magnitude of that sinking in a bit more “do we have that kind of time, or does something start to go wrong if a node remains unclaimed for too long? Speaking of, if he is not going to take nodes and attempt to win for himself, which I assume is Anak’thas’ plan” he phrased that partially as a question before specifically asking “what is Tolbogs?”
“Talbog is a spear, darling,” Benea corrected (cursing Xavior to turn slightly redder than he was naturally in embarrassment) “Garravar is the one we are talking about. But to answer your questions in order, I doubt we have thousands of years — the triggering event is rather random.” She hesitated. “Garravar… wants every node to be claimed, and then every god that has a node to be killed.”
Xavior scratched his head, trying to understand why “To what end? Also how do you… No we’ll get back to that,” he stopped himself from going on a tangent no matter how much he wanted to follow that thread and focused on “Garravar first. What could he possibly achieve from this other than guaranteed annihilation?”
It was Benea’s turn to look uncomfortable. She shifted in her seat for a bit. “I don’t suppose just saying he is a madman with crazy delusions would be enough for you?”
“I’d prefer there to be no more secrets between us” Xavior replied matter of factly, before adding “but if it helps, I swear on my life I will not be taken in by this murderous agenda, whatever it may be” quite seriously.
“I trust you,” the queen added. “Garravar was once my…” She paused and made a face. “Well you know.” Quickly she shook her head. “Either way, that’s how it all started. He wanted to find a way to bypass the triggering events or to trick the crucible into stagnating so that the existing reality could continue in perpetuity. I didn’t take well to his original idea, and so we were at odds ever since.”
Xavior caught himself as he did indeed start to be taken in by that very agenda, and discard any thought on the prospect. Besides, even if it were one life traded for that of the world, he did not approve of that sacrifice being forced by this killer’s hand. Also there was also the key problem with this plan, which was “Why did he even think this would work? It sounds like it would just guarantee the end of the world” he said, before theorizing that “besides, now that we have seen that both you and he have survived a transition, this immoral gamble seems wholly unnecessary. If what you care about is the survival of the people, and I certainly do, then you could create some kind of, say, soul ark to carry them along with the will of the node owner.”
Olipha just seemed to purse her lips at this. “I won’t pretend to understand everything that goes through his mind or how his experiments brought him to these conclusions, but there you have it. Hopefully you won’t ever have to hear about it from him himself.”
The god shrugged, though he did file his own idea away for later, and then went back to the other line of questioning he wanted to ask about, saying “So do you know the trigger event is random? Because I would think you would need to know about more than the last one to make that assessment, yes?”
“Xavior, dear,” Benea slowly went to stand up. “I think that’s enough questions for now. It’s already been heavy on my psyche and as much as I want to answer everything for you, it’s too much for me all at once.”
Xavior frowned, and then shrugged and said, simply, “later then”
“Just, one more thing,” Benea looked down at the god. “If something were to happen to me, I want you to take my nodes and those who follow me. I want you to take all the nodes and I want you to see the next crucible is a paradise like how mine was. Even if nothing happens to me, you still may be our best bet.”
The god suspected he was being told to fill a walking corpse's boots, and did not know how to feel about that. “We’ll bind this little alliance of ours tightly enough that it can survive your fall” he agreed, somewhat, to her desire, before insisting “and make it strong enough that won’t come to that in the first place” while promising himself that he’d learn from his creators mistakes. If nothing else, he’d insist they burn his body.
“Someday one of you gods is going to need to make a commitment,” Olipha mused with a furrowed brow. “Only one can spearhead the triggering event but I guess that can be a conversation for a different time.”
A pause.
“And thank you, sweet Xavior.”
“Any time. This has been elightnenting” Xavior replied, before getting all the way back to the original point of all this “so… does this mean you will be leaving your room anytime soon?”
Benea was already pushing Xavior through the door. “I think that’s enough for now, dear. I’ll come get you when it’s time to make our plans and name our successor, because we are going to need to do that… Tsunya should be there too, and our darling little Monica.”
Jermane was standing on the other side, wide eyed as Benea glanced over him and then back at Xavior. The goddess took Xavior’s hand and squeezed it. “Thank you once again.”
“It was my pleasure,” Xavior replied, before the door was closed before him.
A few moments passed with Xavior grinning thoughtfully until he saw Jermane in his peripheral vision and he remembered what the whole point of this had been in the first place.
Benea… no Olipha, still hasnt left her room.
“Ahhhh, piz.”