Pagan Gods: Of Brotherhood and War

Characters:

You are not logged in. - Madison Jones - The Dark Magician

You are not logged in. - Jake English - The Page of Hope

Guest Characters:
Mystic Red Gem

The Author:
Previously Madison and Jake ventured forth to find the Moon Temple within the Pagan Woods. Drawn to the power of its holy mana, and armed with a grim suspicion of what might be there, the two adventured forth and cleansed it of the undead remains of the once proud wolf pack of this land. The temple has been cleared, and now with the rapid decay of the land due to Dahvin the Defiance absence, the holy power of this temple is needed more than ever before.

Madison Jones:
At the Moon Temple under the glare of a half full moon, the Dark Magician and the Page of Hope venture into its sacred inner chamber that they had cleared out.

"Alright Jake, it's still here, I can feel it. Let's show this Monster or whatever the fuck it might be that we are not as helpless as it might think. Sure, Dahvin might be MIA, Bjarg might not really do much, and the General's Army is in shambles... But we have power too, and we can act."

Mystic Red Gem:
This gem responds to the presence of a power energy source.

Jake English:
Reckon there's enough charge considering the lunar phase for the occasion? Had we done this during a full moon… but perhaps waiting much longer would be ill advised.

Madison Jones:
"We don't have that time, not with this rate of decay. You remember how lush this place was on Wolf Moon, that was only a few weeks ago. Let's work together, use your Hope power, this Holy Energy from Lumen, and my power to boost it all... Let's send out a pulse across the land and purge it of disease and rot to slow the decay. Once the lake is clean, we can use that to better restore things." Hands on your shoulder. "The only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Jake English:
And doing nothing is exactly what we aren't going to stand for. I've already had to cleanse the air of its taint the night before but that was only a small scale fix…

Madison Jones:
We make our way deeper into the grand chamber housing the holy energy, a statue made of silver in the form of the man himself, Lumen the Moon God.

You are not logged in. - Lumen the Moon God

Mystic Red Gem:
This gem responds to the power of the Statue of Lumen the Moon God. Its red light resonates.

Madison Jones:
"Alright Jake, do your fancy stuff and look epic. Ready when you are."

Jake English:
*Cracking knuckles, I take a deep breath, concentrating hard. It can be a fickle thing to work with, frail on many an occasion, but ideas are powerful nonetheless. Ideals, convictions, beliefs, things people fight for, things they work towards, things they live by. The promise of better times, that things will turn around for the better, that the darkness must be pushed back— will be pushed back.*

*Slowly that familiar glow begins to surround me, brightening with each passing moment…*

Madison Jones:
I put my hands on your shoulders and join my optimism with yours. I think of better times, better lives, and what this land represents. I add to your hope and make it brighter.

Jake English:
*The dangerous thing about those bound to that particular aspect — reality can be… malleable, if their force of will is strong enough, if their persistence in belief is stubborn enough. They wish, they say inwardly “i want” or “i will it so”, and the mere act of believing in it seems to make it less fake. All that desire, all that belief in better things to come, all that will to turn things around — it swirls around us, raw hope curling off me in smoky tendrils like light made solid. Some of it goes so far as to coalesce into those familiar winged serpents, like eldritch angels of old…*

Madison Jones:
Those smoky tendrils of hope, I've seen them before and I know their power. I focus on that, reach out and touch the statue with my left hand drawing from it's holy power, right hand touching your chest over your heart. I close my eyes with the Red Mystic Gem floating before me, between us, it adding to my craft.

Mystic Red Gem:
This gem pulses with bright red light. So bright it illuminates the entire temple for a moment. Red light floods into Madison Jones and Jake English fueling their hope for a better future.

Jake English:
*More and more that desire builds in me, wishes and wants growing to the point that i could bear it no longer, and then a sudden, decisive BANG like a large artillery piece being fired as i let it loose in a blast not unlike a massive flashbang going off.*

You are not logged in. You are not logged in.

*Most other times this would probably result in some wicked property damage but this time round there's an effort being made to keep the temple intact — we do need lumen to help us out here after all.*

Madison Jones:
The raw energy of this hope I now use with my imagination, focusing my mind to sweep it forth over this diseased rotting land. "This will not continue." I say out loud. “Say it with me Jake.... THIS WILL NOT CONTINUE!"

Jake English: THIS WILL NOT CONTINUE! *My voice is magnified under the force of the hopesplosion, the very words ringing out with a weightiness that shakes the floor beneath us.*

Madison Jones:
With our wills united, that Hopesplosion spreads out over the land from this temple, the disease in the air shriveling, the wave turning the active decay into ash that will fertilize the land, and for a moment even in this dark night... wipe away the shadow that crept into this sacred realm working to help purify the corrupted.

I stand there breathing heavily looking my friend in the eyes as we have done it. We have stopped the decay... for now. Now we need to rebuild.

Jake English:
*The sheer force of what we've done nearly has me trembling from it all, breathing hard and heavy as I look towards Madison with a breathy chuckle.*

Madison Jones:
I can still feel the wave echoing out from our location. "Can you still feel it? I can."

Jake English:
Like aftershocks of an earthquake…

Madison Jones:
"That was impressive Jake... what we've done here tonight." I give you a tight hug.

Jake English:
*Quietly squeezes madison with a low chuckle.* It'll have to do. If my aspect were life it would be a little more straightforward to combat the rot.

Madison Jones:
I turn my gaze now to the skeletal corpse of the Wolven Priest we vanquished over a month ago. "That thing held the seal to this temple in it's soul. I'm Wolven too... and this temple needs to be protected. Surely after this, that damn monster or its misty mate may try to wipe this source of light from the board. I won't let that happen." I break away from the hug and move to the corpse.

You are not logged in. - Wolven Skeleton

I pick the skull of this once courageous and dedicated creature. "Even after the struggle of power between Moon God and Sun God shifted, they stayed loyal and guarded this place even after death. You can rest well now, I'll take the burden. Lumen blessed me and feeds the hunger so I no longer need to feed on human souls. This is repayment." I hold out my empty left hand, and hold the skull in my right.

Mystic Red Gem:
This gem appears above the hand of Madison Jones.

Jake English:
You’re going to bring the wolven priest back to life then? Suppose somebody does need to defend this temple while we're away…

Madison Jones:
"No, I'm going to key this temple to my body. I'm going to make it an extension of me. Consider me the new high priest, not very fitting for a Dark Magician I know. Beggars can't be chooser though." I close my eyes, amber light coming from my heart and my right hand holding this skull.

Mystic Red Gem:
This gem pulses with red light. The light flows through the body of Madison Jones into the Wolven skull dissolving it into energy. That energy flows into the beating heart of Madison Jones.

Jake English:
*Silently I watch as Madison takes this new role on himself, wondering whether he ought better have a whole pack on call for such occasions as these times.*

Madison Jones:
The light fades into my body, sweating. I look over to my worried friend. "Somebody has to do it. This temple must not be compromised by that Monster or Achlys." Standing there for a moment breathing deep, I speak again. "Come, let us depart. Tonight was a victory for us, hopefully others will strive to make an impact as well." I hold out my hand for yours.

Jake English:
Aye. I would like it indeed if we weren't alone in this battle… *Exhilarated, and yet tired out, I grin as I take your hand to head out from the moon temple.*

Madison Jones:
As we leave I look behind and try out the first of my new priestly duties. I close my eyes and seal the temple, it disappearing under the moonlight. "Good luck getting to a place that doesn't exist. If they want a fight, they are going to have to tangle with us Jake, and I am not about to lose that fight."

Jake English:
Nor am I. I have no plans of letting you get killed off, you can be assured of that!

Published: 2022-02-08, viewed 88 times.