《The Last Changeling》6. Carnage
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On the other side of a figurative wall between planes of existence, an intense argument is occurring between beings of varying degrees of oddity. A tall blonde woman with hair that flows perfectly down her back is wearing a pristine set of glowing silver armor, she grips a large silver shield and a long gold spear. Across from her is a roiling void of constantly shifting shapes and colors, though lacking a mouth of any kind, the patch of disorder speaks dismissively towards the orderly women.
“Why should I care if a few thousand humans die? In fact, I should be trying to instigate this war, shouldn’t I? War does tend to be... chaotic.”
Although the shapeless mass is still devoid of a mouth it’s not hard to tell that a mocking smirk adorns its face as it speaks the last word.
“Useless, absolutely fucking useless” She mutters before stalking off towards a larger group of arguing deities.
The god of chaos chuckles to himself before shambling off towards the god of war to cause more of his namesake. Across the large golden plaza, a figure leans against one of the marble pillars, separated from the other hundred or so deities in attendance. Caedes the god of carnage and savagery idly watches the many arguments and discussions taking place towards the center of the large room. The main dispute taking place today seems to focus around the impending war on the larger of the three center continents. Although as the god of carnage he has much to gain from a decade long war, he learned long ago to mostly ignore the disputes between the other gods, it plays out the same most of the time anyway. On one side of the argument are the gods who want the war, lead by the god of chaos and the god of war himself. Striking an imposing figure, the god of war towers over most of the other gods, upon his back sits a whole armory of weapons, his dark bloodstained breastplate burns dimly as flaming chains coil around it and down his arms. Across from him stands the faction of gods set firmly against the war. Leading them is the goddess of order and the goddess of peace. The tall blonde goddess stands directly in front of the god of chaos, hurling profanity in an entirely unorderly way. The goddess of peace, however, watches silently, her current form is a somewhat abstract depiction of unity, floating several feet above the ground she takes the form of a perfect glass sphere, inside rests a small island with a dark blue pond and crackling bonfire.
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Behind these two groups stands a weird combination of other deities. The god of magic stands behind the god of war, his dark purple skin flashing with an assortment of elemental spells. The goddess of the hearth stands across from him, her brown skin giving off a golden glow, the cavity in her stomach contains a softly crackling fire. Scattered around the group but refraining from participating, an even weirder band of gods watch as the argument escalates. The goddess of secretes floats high above the plaza, nothing more than the vague sense of being shushed occupying an empty portion of space. A handsome man with dark black hair and an equally dark beard argues with a tall man whose skin is somewhere between dark blue and black, his glowing blue pupil-less eyes stare back with disdain, the god of sailing and the god of the deep sea respectively. A section of air containing never-ending music is having a friendly discussion with the god of beasts, currently in the form of a large silver wolf.
Caedes's focus shifts towards the cloaked figure floating in the air slightly to his right. A grinning skull is visible inside the dark hood, as well as two bleached skeleton hands idly twirling a gigantic bone scythe. The god of death catches his eye before sweeping his gaze around the room once more. As always he avoids getting involved, Caedes asked him why that was once, his response frankly scared him a little.
"Death is a constant, it matters not if they die in a year or a century, death claims them all in the end."
Though one of the strongest gods, death has kept a constant shape for as long as anyone can remember, choosing to emulate the nightmares of the enlightened races to become the grim reaper himself. Caedes, on the other hand, chose to inhabit a form meant to unsettle the other gods. His skin is a dark red eerily similar to the color of blood. Atop his head to two sets of horns, one is a set of large black ram horns spiraling off either side of his head. The other is an absolutely massive set of dark red antlers, speared upon the many branching points lies dismembered body parts of all shapes and sizes. A constant stream of blood drips down to land on his naked body. Sharp teeth and claws embellish his upper body while a pair of thick hooves splash loudly in the large puddle of blood beneath him. His look is completed by three large knives stabbed through his back, spraying a steady stream of blood behind him. Although it is very enjoyable watching the other gods faces crunch up as he approaches, his look actually serves a rather important purpose, it keeps the others away while he sets his plans in motion down below. Looking around a final time before directing his gaze towards the land of the living, Caedes avoids the area where the other gods have set their focus and instead considers one of the smaller continents.
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Through skill, instincts, or sheer luck his eye catches upon a small cave, miles away from any civilization. Looking inside he finds an absolute bloodbath taking place. Three small tan bobcats chase a large rat deep into the dark cave, just when it looks like the rat is going to run out of room it transforms into a novern, a large flightless bat, before climbing up the wall with ease. As the cats try to scramble up the wall in pursuit of their prey, the novern cuts through a well-concealed rope, sending a large spike of rock swinging downwards. The spike slams into the side of one of the cats, as blood pours out the cat collapses to the ground. The body quickly dissipates and before the other cats can recover another bobcat plummets down from above landing on one of the disorientated cats below. The impact forces the cat onto its belly as the new feline tears into the muscles on its back. The third feline pounces towards the shapeshifter, trying to save the other cat from its attacker. The shapeshifter has other ideas as it shifts back into a novern causing the leaping bobcat to soar overhead. Sticking a hand upwards the novern slices cleanly through the stomach of the passing bobcat, as it lands its guts spill out of its now open stomach cavity and it too begins to disappear. Shifting back into a bobcat the shapeshifter proceeds to tear out the throat of the last intruder before becoming a spider and clambering up to a hidden corner of the cave.
Caedes smiles to himself with barely concealed glee and begins to craft a miracle.
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