Flashback IV

“He did WHAT!?” Vigros shouted, his rumbling voice seeming to shake and vibrate the very world around him.

His assembled children and subordinates cowered in the presence of an enraged god of light. Averting their eyes from the searing aura his emotions gave rise to.

“How?” Vigros questioned the court before him from his place atop the throne of light. “How did Vazotz accomplish such an outrageous plan without a single member of the pantheon noticing? Do you expect me to believe the runt has more power and cunning than the rest of you combined?” The leader of the gods continued to shout, his rhetorical questions quickly fading into another rambling trade of anger against his younger brother.

“My Lord…” The voice of the young goddess Zelene broke the murmuring of her fellows. The Starlight deity was known to be Lord Vigros’s favorite among his children.

“Vazotz does not have a divine domain of his own, all of our wards and detectors were reacting as if he was a particularly powerful mortal. It wasn’t until the final ritual that he was actually using anything approaching divine magic” Zelene explained, her flickering starlight aura drowning in the much more powerful and direct aura her father commanded.

Vigros grumbled to himself for a moment in deep thought.

“Fine. I do not begrudge lesser beings their lack of power. In the future, if any of the gods withdraw from their usual activities for long I expect it to be reported to me immediately.” His divine command echoed through his domain, causing every being under his influence to stiffen and stand taller.

The words of a god could rewrite the very world around them, when Vigros gave a command, they had no choice but to obey.

The Lord of Light then motioned to a nearby Angel, not caring to remember his name. “Send a message to Iuris, I intend to call for a meeting of the Pantheon.” The serious nature of this order sent the messenger off at full speed, carrying upon wings of light to the very corners of existence themselves.

The last meeting of the full Pantheon had been before the invasion. With the operational barrier now constructed, they would bare their full presence for the first time in millennia.

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The pantheon meeting chamber was held in the empty divine domain of Kelheit and Heila. With the primordial gods gone, it was the only place large enough to hold all their children at once.

Vigros entered the chamber early before many others had even arrived. As was tradition, the head of the table was reserved for the eldest among the gods, though the God of Chaos would not make himself known even if he chose to be aware of the meeting today. Thus it would stay empty.

Vigros took the spot of next highest honor, to the right of the table head. His brother Dimir, God of Darkness, would sit opposite him. Then in order, the other gods would follow.

Life and Death are in the second seat on either side, followed by the four elemental gods. Then space, and time, and finally the runts. The god of Dragons was already present, locked in a tense staring contest with Hyperion, the god of giants.

Vigros hoped they would not make a show of their rivalry today.

Beyond them were the seats for Akbris, lord of beasts, and Vazotz, last of the high gods. Vazotz would not be attending today.

Shortly beyond the edge of the table was a smaller, though similarly resplendent space reserved for the younger gods. The lesser deities that served no direct master, but could not compete in power with the upper pantheon. They were allowed to be present here though their voices could be overruled quite easily.

The Lord of Light had no reason to bow before a god of craftsmanship of all things. Ridiculous.

Each god that arrived after Vigros came with a procession of their favorite subordinates following behind them. An entourage to stand behind the god in question as a projection of their majesty and power. The whole thing was a political nightmare, and an utter farce if any of these gods thought themselves equal to Vigros.

One by one, the pantheon filtered into the chamber, some of them making polite greetings to one another, but many choosing to stay silent. It was to be a tense meeting after all.

Once Iuris the god of law arrived, and more specifically his subordinate the god of records, the meeting could officially begin.

The record keeper took a position near the head of the table where he could both hear all that is said, and be seen by all present.

With a wave of his hand Vigros called out “I call this meeting of the pantheon to order” and the assembled gods took their seats. Vigros then looked around at his siblings, some of them clearly aware of the nature of today, and others missing even a shred of understanding.

“We gather here today to discuss and pass judgment on the crimes of Vazotz and his willful defiance of the decrees set forth by this pantheon” Vigros explained, the words seemingly rippling through the divines and bouncing back as a collective murmur.

One of the subordinates of life audibly gasped.

Then followed a brief pause, an eerie silence falling over the assembled divines. And then the entire room erupted into a cacophony of shouts and questions, the combined force of the divines rattling even the primordial space around them.

“Enough” Vigros called out, no one responding to his attempt at reclaiming authority.

“ENOUGH!” The lord of light then bellowed, rattling some of the lesser divines so completely that they had to be momentarily excused from the meeting.

“We know not how he managed to bypass the operational barrier, but his final act of magic made it very clear that he crossed over. Even now we get but whispers of his presence, unable to track him fully. This meeting was called to formulate a plan, both to find him, and how he shall be punished”

Then the real discussion began.

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The gods were truly ever-present, neven the goddess of slumber only slept as a means of meditative recreation. They neither breathe nor eat either. Thus they can, unfortunately, argue for as long as they want, and what they want is often exceedingly long.

It wasn’t until they were well into the third week of their debate that they finally came to a consensus.

“Okay. Then we’re all in agreement. Since we cannot cross the operational barrier without exposing the mortals to the very dangers we fought to save them from, it falls upon us to raise candidates for sainthood.” Vigros summarized, his siblings nodding and murmuring in agreement.

“Very well! Curatos, fetch the list of possible saints. We need to find someone capable of killing a god.” The lord of light demanded, gesturing over his shoulder to the god of records.

“Maybe once we drag Vazotz back to the pitiful hellscape he calls home he’ll realize his place in the order of things” Vigros murmured to himself after accepting the list tablet offered to him.

“Pathetic.”