"Mother Mila?" Luthor spat as if the words were poisoning.
"Mila is gone, child. The Old Gods mean nothing now. You're right. Placing your faith in them was a fools errand. Mila is not the Goddess. She will never be the Goddess. The lacks her power. She lacks her grace. Ferdinand's life was saved because the Goddess allowed it. We won this war because she willed it. She is the Zero from which all power multiplies. I am sorry that your slow, child mind cannot understand it, but the Goddess is the future. Holding on to the past now is foolish."
The medics sunk their heads in shame. Ferdinand kept his head down, eager to avoid wandering into the mind field that was this conversation.
"And please, don't take your primal frustrations out on the medics. Just because they refuse to lower themselves by calling upon the power of your tainted false-Gods doesn't mean they're not fully capable of saving lives. The elitism perpetrated by you Secularists... it's shameful."
Eli waved to Ashe with the back of his hand, and made his exit without saying another word...
"The answers you search for?" The Goddess hummed.
"They will be revealed to your shortly. You'll know the truth, my wayward daughter..."
"Eliphas, Eliphas, Eliphas..." The Goddess tutted.
"Spiteful, to the bitter end."
She surveyed the chaos around here. Foul creatures. Ungodly beasts. It was all so... loud. She needed a moment.
Snap
Everything began to slow. Everything stopped. The beads of sweat on Ferdinand's forehead trickled to a halt. The mutants saliva stopped dripping. The floating rocks stopped spinning. She ran her fingers through her hair and breathed easily again.
"That's better..." She smiled.
She drifted like leaf on the wind. She took Ashe by the hand and brought him back to the center of the room. She took Ferdinand in her arms as if he didn't weight a thing. The dragged Luthor away from the mutants. And Urien. And Mother. And everyone else.
Snap
Time began to crawl forward once again. In the blink of an eye, the Fellowship's troops were gathered at the Goddess' feet.
"My Children..." The Goddess cupped her hands behind her back.
"For those among you who still hold doubt in their hearts... let it go. Cast aside your doubt and open your hearts. Believe. Believe what your spirits know to be true..."
She pointed a upwards towards the heavens.
"Believe in the might of your Goddess..."
Even as the beasts began to close in around them, the Goddess was unafraid. She flexed her finger.
View attachment 5137
BOOOOM
The skies above the heavens burst into flames. Hundreds of crackling beams of thunder tore through the clouds. The crimson bolts burned the earth and the air alike. Huge shards of stone fell from the Tomb's weakened ceiling to let the light in. Those among Eliphas' creatures who were unlucky enough to avoid a quick, crushing death were subject to purification. It was agonizing, perhaps even more so than their transformations. Where Eliphas had crumpled them up like paper, the Goddess had shredded them, mixed them into mache, dried them out and ground them back down into dust. She melted the dust into glass, and shaped them into something entirely new. Some clean and clear. Something pure.
The mortal the Goddess had gathered at her feet were spared from the fate of the beasts. The Goddess had sheltered them from another storm.
As the smoke cleared and the afterglow faded away, the Chosen would notice that the creatures had been...
transformed.
In place of the chaos marines, now lay mortal men. Humans, unmutated and entirely ordinary. Naked, the slept peacefully among the melted stones. They chests rose and fell slowly. Through some miracle, they were alive.
"You don't need any spells or tricks to know that I speak the truth, child," The Goddess smiled down Jester.
"I am the Absolute. She Who Rules the Skies. The Queen of Fire. The Emerald Empress. I am the sword that cuts through the dark. I am the light in the heart of the storm. I am today and tomorrow and yesterday given flesh. I am justice and I am mercy. I am forgiveness. I am grace. I am she who shall bring order to the chaos. Call me what you wish. Mother. Sister. Saint. I am all these things and more. I am the Goddess, child, and I was born to save you- all of you- from yourselves."
"Welcome to the Brave New World, my Chosen,"
"Welcome to the Emerald Empire!"
The Goddess
Act 1- Emerald Dawn
FINALE
THE LINE IN THE SAND
The Line in the Sand has been Drawn.
The Goddess has returned.
The Reign of the Emerald Empire has begun.
The choice you make now will change your life forever.
The Goddess has searched your heart.
She knows what you desire.
She knows the fears you hide.
She knows the hate you harbor.
A choice has presented itself:
Embrace the Goddess. Join the Goddessians. Take your place by her side and become an Emerald Saint.
Reject the Goddess. Join the Secularists. Take your place among them and become a Fallen Angel.
Some of the Chosen have already sinned against the Goddess. Their decision has been made for them, for now.
Emerald Saints
The Goddess snapped her fingers. It had all happened so quickly.
One minute you were standing around in the Tomb, staring and the smoking rocks and sleeping Marines.
The next minute you were standing on the stage at the center of the Wide Council's Chamber, shoulder to shoulder with the Goddessian Council.
Everywhere you turned, you saw seats. To their surprise, ever single member of the Fellowship had been gathered before you.
Everyone. Every solider and guard. Ever Councillor and cleaner. The only people missing were those who had sat upon the Secularist
Council and a few members of the Chosen. Even the spiders that stalked the corners of the library had been transported to the Wider Council Chamber.
It was packed to the brim. The Councillors gossiped and panicked. Some had been plucked from their beds and dinner-tables to be brought here.
The Goddess appeared at the center of the stage in a flash of green. The room went silent.
"I'm back," She smirked.
"Your Goddess has returned to you."
A beat.
The crowd erupted once again. Some cheered. Some begged for forgiveness. Others yelled curses. With a another snap of her fingers, she took away their voices.
"Good. At last, some peace and quiet." She stifled a chuckle.
"Peace. Yes, we'll have get used to peace, now won't we?"
"The War against the Godless is at an end. The Emerald Flag flies over my Temple. Soon, the Emerald Flag will fly over Hell too, just as it does here. With the thorns removed from out side, we can begin to heal. We can finally rebuild. We can restore the Temple to its former glory. We can returned to the Sacred Path. We can bring Order and Justice to this cold, chaotic multiverse. My Chosen shall become my Emerald Saints, the Flames the Burn in the Dark! Together, we shall purge this world of Evil! Of Injustice! Of the Bile of Sin!"
She gave the Wider Council their voices back. The cheers drowned out the screams. Where they cheering out of love or fear, she wondered? Did it matter? For the first time since its inception, the Fellowship cheered with a single voice. The Goddess raised her hands.
"Today shall be known as the 1st of Kolimensis, the First Year of the Age of the Goddess. It shall mark the start of a new calendar: the Calendar of the Saints!"
The cheering grew louder.
"But, as one son Rises, another must set..."
The Goddess, brought her hands together in prayer. The sword of Azrael appeared before her.
"The Blade of the Traitor shall be reborn, just as it was prophesied. It shall be born anew. I christen her... Righteous Fury, Blade of Justice!"
The Goddess twisted her bound hands. The Righteous Fury multiplied a dozen times. The crimson flames that danced upon their blades began to glow brighter. They took upon an emerald sheen.
"My Saints," The Goddess turned to face her Loyalists, the Chosen and the Goddess Councillors.
"Take a Sword. Know what it feels like to hold justice in your hands..."
[Undecided:
@Takumi @Capri @Lucky @Raynar Saassin]
Emerald Angels
The Goddess snapped her fingers. It had all happened so quickly.
One minute you were standing around in the Tomb, staring and the smoking rocks and sleeping Marines.
The next minute you were standing in a deep, black void. You couldn't see a hand in front of you.
In deepest corner of the abyss, you could hear voices
"Who? Who's there! Someone better tell me what's going on here r--"
"Urien? Is that--?"
"Seteth?"
"Where are you? I can't--"
"Follow my voice--"
"I can't. I can't pinpoint it...."
"Neither can I..."
"Azrael!"
"I can't see a thing... I can't feel a thing... can't feel my lips... my ears... Fuck, am I still alive?"
"For now, we are... I think...."
"This isn't Hell... It's not Heaven either... Wherever we are, it's not somewhere we want to be... The Question remains: how to we get out?"
@Jeremi --> For the Sin of Murdering an Innocent, Big Mother has been condemned.
@Lucky --> For the Crime of Attempted Regicide, Jester Lavorre has been condemned.
@York --> For the Defection of One Under her Care, Kuro Kyoka has been condemned.
@Capri ---> For her Cowardice and Blasphemy, Maddison Palmer has been condemned.