Solivagency - Empires SMP

XIX

Xornoth swallowed and tried to compose themself, keeping their face as expressionless as possible. Exor had always told them that if Aeor ever got control of them, he would punish them ten times worse, break their mind until they couldn't think.

I know your thoughts, Champion. Aeor spoke, his voice a boom. They moved back, trying to keep a respectful distance. I know you think I'm going to kill you. I am not that kind of god.

"...Why- why not?" They asked. Their hands curled into fists, not into anger but in pure nerves. The croak of their voice surprised them. How long had they been unconscious. They looked more around the landscape and them back at home with widened eyes. "Am I already dead?"

No. And to answer your question, that is not the way the cycle is supposed to go. If I am to kill you myself, it seriously damages the possibilities of the cycle continuing. Aeor responded.

The words didn't reassure them. They stepped back a little more.

"Why am I here?" Xornoth asked again with more force. They couldn't be weak in front of Aeor.

The stag god pondered this thought for a few seconds - well, he looked like he did - and then turned his head towards the sky. Do you see the stars, Prince of Rivendell?

Their gaze flickered up and they blinked rapidly, stilling in awe. The stars were undeniably beautiful, splatters of white on a midnight black canvas, then covered in the colourful ashes of dead suns. It was incomprehensibly jaw dropping, and their eyes traced the unfamiliar constellations, ten times brighter than they were back in home.

Every single one of those stars has a beginning and an end. When they die, they will explode and shoot their energy out into the rest of the sky to be redistributed, where their elements will form together to make new stars. And the cycle continues on, and on and on.

Upon a hesitant glance, Aeor's eyes were firmly trained on the heavens. I am the god of beginnings, and I need to make sure that everything has a beginning in order for the universe to continue.

"...I don't get it." Xornoth admitted, shivering a little. They shouldn't have said that, they should not have said that-

Exor wants the opposite. He wants there to be no beginnings, only endless endings. Aeor continued. What he doesn't understand is that for there to be endings, there must be a beginning. And thus... he broke the cycle.

They made one last look to the stars and turned back to Aeor. He was looking at them with a sad look on his face. Your brother should not be with him. It's a direct threat to how we function. Believe me when I say it is the greatest sorrow I have ever felt, knowing that I can do nothing to stop him.

"...You can't do anything to stop him?" Xornoth stuttered. "But you're Aeor. You're one of the last gods. You can do something, can't you?"

Young Prince, it is complicated for you to understand. I can do something if I choose, but I must not interfere directly with the world or our champions. He sighed. The universe picks champions for us, but if something were to happen to them then we are not supposed to help them.

They looked at him more closely. "So we're supposed to help ourselves?"

That is how it must be.

Xornoth frowned. "...But why do champions help you and Exor if you won't help us?"

His gaze focused over them, staring with a certain intensity that made their skin crawl. It burned onto them, into them, exposing every thought and question and detail overwhelming their mind.