ICE BRIDGE
"Atlantiades! Wait! No!" Atreus lunged towards the edge of his sheet of ice, his hand reaching out towards them. His efforts were in vain. The moment Atlantiades touched the water, they sunk like a stone. It was just as Adam had theorized: the region's abnormal gravity dragged her straight down to the coral. Perhaps it was a painless death. Perhaps the cold got to her before she suffocated. Perhaps she died before she felt the crushing pressure of the ocean crashing down upon her. It was hard to say. Her air bubbles stopped rippling under the waves after a minute or two.
PLAYER ELIMINATED: Atlantiades
FATE: Drowned trying to save Atreus
"Noooo!" Atreus howled. His fists came pounding down upon his icy sheet. It wasn't long before his platform started to crack too. He barely notices. He barely cared. Rage had swallowed him whole.
"Come back!!!" He screeched, sparks swarming him like fireflies.
"Give her back!!!"
[Crack!]
His platform spit in two. Throwing caution to the find, he plunged deep into the blue, his arms reaching down towards Atlantiades. He never resurfaced.
PLAYER ELIMINATED: Atreus, Son of Kratos
FATE: Drowned trying to save Atlantiades
Viper screamed and ran to the coast. Damian caught her before she could reach the tide. She fought against him. She screamed and hissed and spat. Robin remained silent. The situation was horrible. Hellish. Unfair. There was nothing either of them could have done. Adam remained stoic. He kept his arms folded and his brow tense.
"And then there were 6..." He sighed.
"It's a shame. I was actually starting to like them. Still. We have no time to grieve. If we want to reach this... escape route the Winged-One spoke of, we'll have to let the seas take them. We'll need to find another way across, for our sake..."
JUNGLE/WATERFALL
A sneer crept across Urien's face. The Tongue of the Goddess... now that would do him nicely. Holding the line behind Gill, the Silent One waited patiently, tapping his foot as the seconds crawled by.
One quick tap, one long one. A pause.
Three quick taps. A pause.
Two quick taps, one long one. A pause.
One quick taps, two long ones. A pause.
Two quick ones. A pause.
Three quick ones. A pause.
Four quick taps ones. A pause.
"Good answer, good answer... but tell me this, stranger..." Eobard hummed sarcastically, stroking his chin all the while.
"Why would I want to 'escape' when I have this game in the bag? With that kid with the gun gone, who's left to compete with my score? I mean, one more kill..." He raised his foot over Cammy's head.
"And I'll be unbeatable. You want this girl? You're going to have to beg a little harder than that. Offer me something good- something really good- and I might send a bit of charity your way. Now, I'll tell you this much; Fame, power and glory scratch a certain itch for me. So what do you have to offer?"
@Yun Lee
TIME REMAINING: 3 hours 30 minutes.
...
...
...
...
...
Falling.
Drowning.
Sinking.
Down from the forth dimension of time...
Into the third, the dimension of space...
Into the second...
Into the first...
And beyond...
Atlantiades fell...
Endlessly...
Until she came upon...
//GODDESS II// EMERALD NOON//
//FATE OF THE OLD GODS// CHAOS WAR//
//AFTERLIFE//
THE NEGATIVE THIRD DIMENSION
Time ceased to matter.
There was no Sun down there. No moon. No stars.
Only a burning, endless sky, littered with smog clouds and raining razors.
The air was always hot. Always rough on the way down.
There was nothing to eat or drink. You were always hungry. Always thirsty.
Always on edge. Always hunting.
The High-Inquisitor was running. Chasing something. They didn't know. They didn't know why.
They simply hunted. The High-Inquisitor was a hunter. That was the way things were.
It was a blissful existence, despite the pain. No matter how thirsty or tired they grew, they couldn't bring themselves to hate the N3.
It was their home. Their fellow hunters were their family. They had partners. Lovers. Friends. Why would they ever want to leave?
What could the +4 offer her what the N3 didn't already provide?
The Goddess had given the High-Inquisitor bliss. She had liberated them from the crushing weight of free-thought. They wanted for nothing.
View attachment 6551
The hunt was almost over. Their prey was cornered in dusty black alley. He struck the alley's back away with a crack. He pounded his fist against the concrete barrier and the Goddess for all she was worth. He slowly turned around to face his death with a glimmer of pride. His pleading eyes were illuminated by the crimson glow of a nearby tower.
View attachment 6552
"So this is how it ends, High-Inquisitor?" The Old Soldier groaned.
"After all we've been through... This is how it ends?"
"Such is the fate of all Imperial Traitors," The High-Inquisitor replied, unable to control her own tongue.
"Fear not, Atreus. You'll be with the Mother-Queen soon enough. Her love shall purify you. You will be made whole again!"
"Whole?" Inquisitor Atreus chuckled bleakly.
"I know not what 'wholeness' is. I have not felt it since Underworld."
The High-Inquisitor rolled their eyes.
"I don't know what spirit has possessed you, Chaos-Dog, but know that there is nothing the Goddess cannot repair. Return to the front lines with us! Bathe yourself in the blood of the marines! Heal yourself in their hate!"
"The spirit that possesses me is the spirit of empathy, Inquisitor! It is the spirit of sympathy! Of guilt, of regret, of misery! I am possessed by the spirit of free thought!!!" Atreus his mother's axe.
"Listen to me, Love-God!"
"You're wasting time, High-Inquisitor!" Jon spat, his aura flaring.
View attachment 6553
"What are you waiting for? Kill him! Rid the Realm of this Hellspawn!"
"Hellspawn?!" Atreus protested, tightening his grip on his axe.
"It is you who are the Hellspawns! It is you who are the demons! You, who betrayed all who exist in the world above! Love God--"
"Don't call me that. I am the High--"
"No! You are the God of Love! The Emerald Flag cannot change that! Even the Goddess herself cannot change that!"
"Blasphemer!" They spat.
"Infidel!"
"Yes! I will blaspheme against the False-Goddess until my final breath! I will follow her no longer! I will am Inquisitor Imperius no more! I am Atreus, Son of Laufey! Son of Kratos! Just as you are Jonathon Kent, Son of Lois and Clark! And you!" His eyes burned into the Inquisitor.
"Just as you are the child of Hermes and Aphrodite!"
"I have no mother but Her! I have no Mother but the Mother-Queen!"
"That's where you are wrong, Jon!"
"Don't call him that!"
"I will call him by his name! His true name! The name of a man destined to save lives, not take them!"
"The only destiny I possess is the one written for me by--"
"An'Lu'Munus!" Atreus screamed over Superboy.
"That is her name! She's not God! She's not Divine! None of us are! Please! Love God! Believe me! BELIEVE ME!"
Atreus stepped forward. Jon's eyes burned with heat. The High-Inquisitor signaled for him to stand down. Begrudgingly, Superboy stepped back in line.
Atreus took a knee before the High-Inquisitor. He raised his axe, offering it to them.
"We're monsters. We can tell ourselves that we're better than the those we face... but we're not. Our hands are stained black with innocent blood! With killed as many 'traitors' within our ranks as we have Marines! I will pay for my part in these crimes with my life."
"The Goddess will--"
"No. You will decide my fate." He looked up at them with tired, war-weary eyes.
"I will die by my own blade."
The High Inquisitor obliged. She raised the axe above her head. Atreus bowed a little lower.
"I admired you, Love God. I have ever since I was a boy. I admired your convictions. The way you protected us. Raised us. Even now, I can't help but love you. I cannot bid you good fortunes. I pray that your demons catch up with you some day. I pray that the same spirit that possesses me..."
The axe was swung.
"--will possess you." Atreus looked up at the High-Inquisitor. He looked up at blade that had stopped and inch away from his skull. He looked up at the saint who had spared him. Something changed within the Love-God. Something had moved through her. A switch had been flicked. A flood gate had opened.
"Welcome back, Atlantiades. It's been far too long."
"Inquisitor?" Jon muttered, frozen in his place.
"Inquisitor... what has he done to you?"
For the first time in an eternity, Atlantiades was free. She could control herself once again, body, mind and soul.
God help the Goddess.
//AFTERLIFE//
THE NEGATIVE THIRD DIMENSION
[N3-3]
PART 1- Patience, Peace and Piety
@Jeremi