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Kolin's eyes widened in horror. Silque...no...she hadn't known the girl for long, but she had been kind and reasonable. And Ashe... Kolin's horror turned to rage. "You never cared about them..." she said. "You never cared about us! You used us! Used me! If you cared you would have revived them, not used them as bargaining chips! You...Hearts was right, you need to be destroyed!!" She sent a flurry of snow and ice towards the Goddess, knowing it'd do nothing to harm her but hopefully distract her. "GO!!"

@Sark @Jeremi @Capri
 
Kolin's eyes widened in horror. Silque...no...she hadn't known the girl for long, but she had been kind and reasonable. And Ashe... Kolin's horror turned to rage. "You never cared about them..." she said. "You never cared about us! You used us! Used me! If you cared you would have revived them, not used them as bargaining chips! You...Hearts was right, you need to be destroyed!!" She sent a flurry of snow and ice towards the Goddess, knowing it'd do nothing to harm her but hopefully distract her. "GO!!"

@Sark @Jeremi @Capri
"I loved you all!" The Goddess howled, parting the wave for frost. "I loved you more than anything!! More than you could ever know!"

"You were my life! You were my everything and I gave
you everything! Everything!!" The Goddess raised her hand and unleashed a kinetic towards Kolin, forcing her to her knees. "I marched into Hell for you!" She screamed as she marched towards her. "I gave my life for you! I loved like a Mother loves her child! Like a mortal loves life! I loved you!"

Her fingers tightened into fists.

"But you never did the same for me! Never! Did you really think that I wouldn't find out?! I can read your heart like a book, Kolin! You freed me out of spite, not love! You never loved me! Not like you loved that 'Gill'!"

The storm grew wilder. Beams of thunder broke away from the clouds and tore through the Temple on their way to the ground. Shards of stone were sent flying in all directions. The Goddess didn't care. She didn't even flinch. The wind roared louder. The earth shook. The trees in the courtyard were ripped from their placed in the dirt and whipped up into the growing hurricane.

"What did he offer you that I didn't? What did he do to earn your love?!"

The Earth broke in two.

"TELL ME!!"

@Yun Lee @Capri @Jeremi
 

In a flash, Luthor and Silque were gone. The might of the Goddess' Saint battled against the might of Mila. The fragment of the Goddess that burned within Luthor pushed against the pull of Expel.

Luthor howled in mix of fury and terror and the pair jumped from one dimension to the next.
They shifted through the third dimension of space into the forth dimension of time
From the forth dimension to the fifth dimension of orthoplexes.
View attachment 5190
From the fifth dimension to the sixth, the realm of Hyperbolic Space
View attachment 5191
From the sixth dimension to the seventh, the realm of Vector Space.
View attachment 5193
From the seventh dimension to the eighth, the realm of Euclidean Space.
View attachment 5195
From the eighth dimension to the ninth, the realm of vectors without distance.
View attachment 5197
Luthor and Silque crashed through the barrier of the 10th dimension. The entered into the realm of imagination. The shattered its outer limits. There entered the 11th dimension, the highest point of reality. They entered the realm of inconceivable things. They didn't stop. They were expelled further. And further and further.

The laws of reality acknowledge that the a 12th dimension cannot exist. The existence of realm beyond the realm of inconceivable things would be inconceivably inconceivable. To traveled to the 12th dimension is to enter a world of impossible impossibilities. Were it to exist, it would topple the tower of dimensions. There is no 12th dimension.

The Twelfth Dimension cannot not exist. And yet, Silque and Luthor slipped into it anyway.

They saw a mighty oak tree. It stretched on in all directions as far as their eyes could see. Or, rather, as far as their minds could conceive. Held on to Silque for dear life. His hands remained fixed around her neck. But they had entered into a post-matter world. No matter how tightly Lex squeezed, Silque didn't die. She didn't feel even the smallest sting of pain.

The pair continued to fall through the Twelfth dimension. The Infinity Tree drew them inwards towards its truck. Its binding branches reached out to bind their limps. Luthor stretched out his own arms towards one of the tree's great fruits. He had to reach it. He had to. He had to.

Contact

Luthor crushed the fruit in his hands. The Infinity Tree recoiled and released the past. The Dimension itself recoiled. It spat the pair out.

They came crashing back into the realm of inconceivable ideas. They smashed through the realm of imagination. Through the realm of of without space. Through the realm of Euclidean Space. Through the realm of Vector Space. Through the realm of Hyperbolic Space. Through the realm of Orthoplexes.

Back into the 4th dimension. Back to the realm of time. The pair struck the Earth outside the Temple with a crack. Their bodies were screaming with pain. Their minds screamed louder still.

Luthor tightened his right hand. He pulled it closer to his chest.

They'd done it. They had traveled to an impossibly impossible place and lived to tell the horrific tale.

Or at least, Luthor had.

Dazed and dazzled, Luthor stumbled towards Silque's barely conscious form. As a shape-change, his body was recovering faster than hers. His mind has been trained to endure such things. He staggered forth and threw himself atop of her. He raised his mighty fist above his head and struck down upon the helpless girl.

STATUS: Silque// ???

Silque's body died, but her mind lived on. She was still aware... aware and dreaming...

Dreaming...

Dreaming...

Dreaming...

@Takumi


"Going somewhere?" A bloodied and crazed Luthor spat. His eyes were black and cold. He wan't playing the role of the zealot, nor was he playing the role of the dutiful servant. He was something more than a man now. He was something more primal. He was the Apex Predator.

He tossed Silques' body across the floor.

"Don't you want to stick around for the festivities? No? Fine by me." He stopped his foot. A tremor shook the corridor. The hall came crashing down. The floor above it came crashing down too. Tons upon tons of stone and concrete came crumbling down around Ashe and Maddie. "End of the line, 'Chosen'. Show's over."

@Takumi @Capri


In a flash of emerald thunder, the Goddess leaped from the wreck of the Wider Council chamber. She landing sent a shockwave rippling across the roof, shattering its tiles and dislodging its gargoyles. Murderous intent danced in her eyes. She held the Gohan and Kale in either hands. She effortlessly dangled their them by their heads for a moment or two. She tossed their unconscious bodies off the side of the Temple.

"I can sense it!" She hissed. "Silque's light has already been blotted out! Ashe and Maddie will be joining her shortly! Your escape has failed! You could have exiled the traitors! Imprisoned them! But no! You sin is the same as Urien's. You've incited rebellion where it wasn't needed. You've gotten your allies needlessly killed! Admit it!" She screeched. "Admit that you never should have defied me! Admit it!"

Storm clouds began to gather overhead. Emerald thunder danced from one cloud to another.

"Admit it, and this all goes away! Return to me, and I'll bring them back! I'll take away your doubt! Things can go back to the way things were! Orderly! Peaceful! Please! Return to me!"

@Jeremi @Capri @Yun Lee


That tree...something about it called to her. Something warm.

It reminded her of Mila, and of her status as Earth Mother. Vaguely, she remembered something. Lyrics.

A song. A song to her children, to the lonely, to the downtrodden.

A song from a Mother. A song who's lyrics saved a lonely girl who only had her faith to turn to. Who gained friends and helped a world who's Goddess wasn't her own. Who got to feel the embrace of a different 'Mother' if only for a moment.

She didn't feel lonely, she didn't feel pain. She felt free. Free of anger and sadness and the crushing weight of loneliness. Like she could laugh and fly like a bird and not feel weighed down ever again!

Silque smiled wide.

And then she hit the ground.

Dazed, the world fading, but her smile remained wide and bloodied even as her eyes grew serene and dark. She twitched, but couldn't feel the pain, she was peaceful even as Luthor stood over her.

Luthor would see a flash of smugness in her eyes, even as her breaths were ragged as her chest struggled to rise and fall and fill her broken body with oxygen. She laughed for a moment. She laughed even as tears fell from her eyes and even though the sound coming from her sounded as if she swallowed glass it was light and airy and free.

And then his fist came down, but she still laughed, even if her body stopped she still laughed.

If this was a dream, maybe it'd be best to just sleep for a while in her Mother's embrace...


Ashe stood between Maddie and Luthor, pale and wide eyed as he stared down at Silque's still body. They couldn't stay here, they couldn't stay here they couldn't.

No matter what, Maddie's safety came first. Taking a shaky deep breath, he turned to shield Maddie from the falling debris. He didn't know what to do, not against someone like this.

"Maddie, I don't know what to do, I'm sorry." He spoke. Before putting both bow and arrow away, hands glowing softly. He was a ranged fighter, and there was no way he'd let Lex get any closer to her.

@Sark @Capri
 
Kolin groaned, bearing the energy, the chaos, the Goddess all bearing down on her, filling her senses. It was all so much...and so suffocating, just as if she was back in space clinging to her life. But the Goddess said his name. And Kolin would not refuse to answer.

"What Gill gave me is something you never can!" Kolin had to raise her voice to be heard over the raging storm. "Gill may be divine, he may be my Emperor...but he was once a man! A man who knew what he was devoting his life to, knew the responsibilities! He understands us mortals more intimately than you could ever hope to! And he's flawed, and his word is not absolute. He acknowledges mistakes in our own teachings, he allows those who don't want to follow him to walk away...he learns, and fights, and protects, and for what? So people will love him? So those in our Society can slaughter nonbelievers like pigs? No...Gill couldn't care less if he is loved or hated! He does so because he knows it is right, because he knows it is his duty! He expects nothing in return from the people he works for. And THAT...that is why I will choose him over you. Every time. Because someone like you can never understand me. Because a god with no humanity in their essence can never truly love me. I am not your child, and you are not my mother!"

@Sark @Jeremi @Capri
 
Jester

“ It’s the same thing the Traveller offered me. A choice to believe in him. There was no forcing of his will down our throats. Yes, he encourages me to teach others about him, but he also let me solve my own problems. You never gave us a choice. Also, you’re not my mother. She’s a wonderful lady who cared for me and kept me safe. And though you may be divine, you’re acting like a spoiled child right now.”


Beau

Two words the Goddess had said echoed with Beau. The your mother. She dropped the sword. “I’m not doing that again. Not dealing with a parent who thinks they know what is best for me. You- you’re just like my father- thinking you know what is best for me. You don’t. You really don’t. Jester is right. What you gave us isn’t love or life, it’s authority and problems. You asked us to solve your problems, but not once did you ever consider us as people. Not once did you consider anything outside of yourself. That’s not a mother, that’s the action of a teen mom, a child.”
@Sark
 
ROMAN
Roman continued to hop from tree to tree in an attempt to escape.

@Sark


MADDIE
“I don’t know what to do, either, but... if these is my final moments... I’m happy to spend it with you... I know it’s sappy... but it’s true...”

Maddie simply accepted that she would share her fate with Silque as Lex approached.

@Takumi @Sark
 
ROMAN
Roman continued to hop from tree to tree in an attempt to escape.

@Sark


MADDIE
“I don’t know what to do, either, but... if these is my final moments... I’m happy to spend it with you... I know it’s sappy... but it’s true...”

Maddie simply accepted that she would share her fate with Silque as Lex approached.

@Takumi @Sark

"As sappy as you think your words were, they make me happy." Ashe chuckled softly. He pushed up, to stand amid the dust and rubble and debris. Her words sparked something, something small. Some kind of hope.

"It sounds like a battleground outside, but even if we don't get away, I want to at least go down knowing that I did what I could to try and protect you." He sighed, a small bit of sadness in his voice even as he gave her a reassuring smile.

He turned to Luthor, smile gone and his gaze like steel.

Cutting Gale!

Thrusting his hands out, sharp winds would head straight towards the Apex Predator in an attempt to cut into flesh and tendon, an attempt to remove arms from the body, to push him back with force and anger and hurt. Ashe poured what magical energy he had in his assault, knowing that if he went down here, he'd go down fighting.

@Sark @Capri
 
Johanna sat in a well lit office. The office was Seteth's, but she had temporarily arranged it into her office while he dealt with what was going outside. She wrote intently, filling out the entirety of the report. She paused in her writing for a second.

What DID she believe? The precepts of Zakarum didn't exactly allow for a Goddess, now did it? Deities were the modus operandi of monks in Xiansai, of Angels. However, he work dictated her precepts. The Light guided her way, not some Goddess that she never saw evidence of. Her job was to purify the influence of the last deity who tried to take hold in Zakarum. A false corrupting entity who guided them the wrong way.

She momentarily thought for a moment about all that had gone on. The Prison, Hell itself, the ball. She put the writing utensil down and bit the inside of her lip. She was but one Internal Affairs officer. And although she had beaten Diablo and Malthael using the precepts of Zakarum, she knew this would take more to fix.

She stood up from her seat, and knelt.

May Zakarum guide her path now.
In a flash of gold, a figure appeared before Johanna. His the shock wave that sudden appearance sent the papers and pictures on Seteth's desk spiraling off in all direction.
View attachment 5202
"Child," Fate commanded. "Come with me. We do not have much time. Thing have accelerated faster than I anticipated."

He offered her a hand.

"The Realm of Mortals has fallen. The Fellowship of the Faiths is no longer safe."

@Minerva
Kolin groaned, bearing the energy, the chaos, the Goddess all bearing down on her, filling her senses. It was all so much...and so suffocating, just as if she was back in space clinging to her life. But the Goddess said his name. And Kolin would not refuse to answer.

"What Gill gave me is something you never can!" Kolin had to raise her voice to be heard over the raging storm. "Gill may be divine, he may be my Emperor...but he was once a man! A man who knew what he was devoting his life to, knew the responsibilities! He understands us mortals more intimately than you could ever hope to! And he's flawed, and his word is not absolute. He acknowledges mistakes in our own teachings, he allows those who don't want to follow him to walk away...he learns, and fights, and protects, and for what? So people will love him? So those in our Society can slaughter nonbelievers like pigs? No...Gill couldn't care less if he is loved or hated! He does so because he knows it is right, because he knows it is his duty! He expects nothing in return from the people he works for. And THAT...that is why I will choose him over you. Every time. Because someone like you can never understand me. Because a god with no humanity in their essence can never truly love me. I am not your child, and you are not my mother!"
Jester

“ It’s the same thing the Traveller offered me. A choice to believe in him. There was no forcing of his will down our throats. Yes, he encourages me to teach others about him, but he also let me solve my own problems. You never gave us a choice. Also, you’re not my mother. She’s a wonderful lady who cared for me and kept me safe. And though you may be divine, you’re acting like a spoiled child right now.”


Beau

Two words the Goddess had said echoed with Beau. The your mother. She dropped the sword. “I’m not doing that again. Not dealing with a parent who thinks they know what is best for me. You- you’re just like my father- thinking you know what is best for me. You don’t. You really don’t. Jester is right. What you gave us isn’t love or life, it’s authority and problems. You asked us to solve your problems, but not once did you ever consider us as people. Not once did you consider anything outside of yourself. That’s not a mother, that’s the action of a teen mom, a child.”
@Sark
"Choice?" The Goddess spat. "So this is all about 'Free Will'? The Creator's greatest Mistake! Look where your freewill has gotten you! Free will sent you off to war twice in as many months! Free Will cut Izana in half for speaking out of turn! Free Will mutated the Chaos Marines and sent them to their graves! Since I returned you all to life, all you have done is kill and hurt and maim! You have exerted your will over others and sent them off to die in your stead! Tell me one more time about how you don't need a mother! You fools need a mother more than any one else in the Multiverse!"

"You need to be guided. You need to be taught. You need to be corrected. You need your hands slapped when you reach for something you shouldn't have. You need me. You all need me..."
The Goddess' tone shifted. The mad fury that had filled her words had been washed away in the storm. Her words were calm. Relaxed. She almost sung her final words, pain clinging to every note. "You've always needed me. If I wasn't here to burn away the Old World, you'd have no doubt driven it to ruin yourselves. None of you were fit to rule. Not as War Councillors. Not as High Councillors. Certainly not as my Saints or as my Chosen...

"I was wrong about you. All of you. You don't deserve the power I gave your. You're not worthy of my sacrifices. You're not worthy of my love. You're Godless Creatures, every last one of you. Disobedient. Cruel. It's high time you learned---


The storm grew louder by the second. The lighting burned brighter. The razor winds tore at your skin. It was hard to breathe. Hard to think. The chill of the rain. The heat in the air. It was overwhelming. The Goddess soared above it all. She stretched out her armed. The lighting gravitated towards her. It danced around her chest. She ran her fingers through the rain. She became one with the elements.

"Mother Knows best..."

She took a lightning bolt in her hands. She raised it over her shoulder. She threw it like a javelin.
View attachment 5200
The lighting tore the Temple asunder. It collapsed in upon itself. If the Heat of the Heavens wasn't enough to force Mother, Jester, Beau and Kolin from the mortal plane, the falling concrete would have been enough to finish what the Goddess started. The ruins of the temple became the Chosen's tomb. Lost in a sea of light and smoke, the Chosen succumbed to their injuries.

"The Mutliverse is better off without you..."

STATUS: Big Mother// ???
STATUS: Kolin// ???
STATUS: Beauregard Lionette// ???
STATUS: Jester Lavorre// ???

The Goddess slumped her shoulders. She released her hold over the elements and, for the first time since her resurrection, she allowed herself to cry. She drifted down to the wreckage and wept. The trees and rocks she had whipped up into the air came crashing down around her. When the trees came crashing to the earth, Roman came tumbling down with them. The Goddess' grief redoubled.

"It had to be done... It had to be..."

STATUS: Roman Halldiay// ???

"As sappy as you think your words were, they make me happy." Ashe chuckled softly. He pushed up, to stand amid the dust and rubble and debris. Her words sparked something, something small. Some kind of hope.

"It sounds like a battleground outside, but even if we don't get away, I want to at least go down knowing that I did what I could to try and protect you." He sighed, a small bit of sadness in his voice even as he gave her a reassuring smile.

He turned to Luthor, smile gone and his gaze like steel.

Cutting Gale!

Thrusting his hands out, sharp winds would head straight towards the Apex Predator in an attempt to cut into flesh and tendon, an attempt to remove arms from the body, to push him back with force and anger and hurt. Ashe poured what magical energy he had in his assault, knowing that if he went down here, he'd go down fighting.
“I don’t know what to do, either, but... if these is my final moments... I’m happy to spend it with you... I know it’s sappy... but it’s true...”

Maddie simply accepted that she would share her fate with Silque as Lex approached.

Luthor stretched out his hand to meet the gale. It stopped mid-fight. Green balls of light danced around the spells as it dissipated.
"Such spunk."
View attachment 5201
"Had you tapped into it a quarter hour ago, you might have gotten out of here alive. Shame"

Alexander continued his slow, methodical advance.

"But it's all over now. There not no need to fight it. You've said your goodbyes. You've had your heroic moment. You can die without regrets. And when you meet your Gods? Tell them Alexander Luthor sent you there."

A wave of heat and light waved over Ashe and Maddie. Their suffering was brief. It was all over quickly.

STATUS: Ashe// ???
STATUS:
Maddison Palmer//
???

Alexander Luthor stepped over the bodies of his fallen foes and stepped out into the courtyard to watch the Goddess weep. She had shifted through the rubble to find the bodies of her fallen Chosen. She had done so with her own too hands.

"It had to be done..." She chanted to herself against and again. "It had to be done..."

Maybe if she said it enough times, she would start to believe it again.

He cradled his right hand. There was no point in disrupting her moment. No. Not when he had what he came for. Fortune had favored the bold once again. He peeled back his fingers. He had to take a look at it. Just one look.

He uncoiled his fingers. Yes. It was still here, and more beautiful than he had imagined. Then again, he had stolen the tree from the Realm Beyond the Impossible Realm. The seed was designed to defy expectations. He buried it in his hand once again.

The less people who knew of his prize, the better.
Many men would kill for a seed stolen from the Garden of the Goddess herself.

The Apex Predator called upon the power of the Invisible Spectrum. He bent the light of burning Temple around his person. Invisible, he stepped back into the Temple. Without saying another word, Alexander Luthor abandoned his post.

As the rain fell down upon the crumbling city, the Goddess sat alone. Her Saints had abandoned her. Her Chosen were dead. She had won the world, but at what cost? She lost a part of herself that she could never replace. Her soul burned. It ached for company. The Goddess looked up from bodies that sat around her. The washed away her tears. She looked out at the terrified faces of her new subjects.

The Fellowship was hers. The world was at peace.
She had never expected that her victory would feel so... empty...

THE GODDESS: EMERALD DAWN
PART 1
TO BE CONTINUED


@Yun Lee as Kolin, @Jeremi as Big Mother, @Takumi as Ashe and Silque, @Crunch as Eliphas the Inheritor @Capri as Maddie and Roman, @Lucky as Beau and Jester, @Minerva as Johanna @Raynar Saassin as CFW Magic and CFW Brave,​
 
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