With Blood shall come Desire (MxM)

☽ Chapter Thirty Six ☾

𝕾ilthos looked over the filled hall and was relieved to see mostly known faces. The goddess of joy greeted him with her brightest smile, the goddess of logic even approached him to give him a warm handshake and the god of judgement nodded politely. "We are glad to be here and support you. I watched your grandfathers doing this for far too long now and think its finally time to let him pay for his crimes.", Omes told him. As the god of judgement he was leading the mortal world and theirs like a court. He weighed every action on two platters and shivered at the crimes. No emotion or personal opinions could influence his mind. Only the truth could escape his lips.

Silthos was glad to see him here, he thanked everyone for coming and let Lunaan guide them to the conference hall with a large table in the middle. His gaze wandered over the other gods still standing in the hall and he widened his eyes. He recognised Tythone - the god of time. He was quietly leaning against a wall, his eyes fixed on his watch which was connected to a necklace. He noticed the gaze of the young god and pushed himself of the wall to greet him. "Tythone... it is an honor to see you here-" "No time for such greetings, young man. It took you long enough to finally form such a meeting." His eyes were sharp and wandered around nervously but a little warm smile appeared on his lips. "I waited for this from the moment Destiny told me about her visions... it will be an honor for me to follow you, Silthos." With that said he quickly followed Lunaan. Destiny was a very quiet and shy person. She rarely had contact with any other gods, but from time to time she had a few words with Tythone. Silthos knew she admired him and wished nothing more but to see his face while he talked about the world of time. Silthos almost felt his hands shaking. They had time on their side. Immediately, he wanted to tell Aristaeus and turned to find him. He was still chatting with Viola but a tall man with short dark hair was approaching him. With a second glance Silthos recognised him and stopped in his tracks. It was Xoton - the god of life and existence. "Aristaeus, my favourite nephew! My Xyliath, you look as horrifying as always!", Xoton greeted Aristaeus grinning.

Aristaeus turned around in confusion. There was only one god that dared talk to him like that and got away with it. When he saw the bright grin of his uncle, his shoulders relaxed and he couldn't help but chuckle. "Glad to see you too, uncle." Aristaeus hugged the god and patted him on the shoulder. "Have you gotten buffer? In your age I'm surprised you can still do it." Xoton barked out a laugh that made the goddess of music flinch in surprise.
Aristaeus wanted to talk to Silthos. He wanted to show him who was on their side and immediately looked around in search for the god. When their eyes locked, he smiled. "Let me introduce you to our leader, uncle. I'm pretty sure you will like him." Love was an important part of life, like it was everywhere else. Love existed in music, it existed beyond time and beyond death. Silthos was meant to lead them. He was the only one who could do it.

Silthos felt more than just honored to lead a god like Xoton. The god of life was one of the famous and most ancient gods, he had known Xyliath even. Silthos greeted him a bit nervously but smiled at him. "I'm... honored to see you here, Xoton." Silthos and Xoton hadn't met often before. Xoton just playfully grinned at Silthos. "My Xyliath, you are really as breathtaking as they all describe you." He winked at him shortly and then looked at Aristaeus. "Don't feel honored. I can feel the life tickle in my hand, I'm so excited to see your grandfather get punched in the face." Silthos now seemed to be a bit confused by the behavior of Xoton. He had imagined him wistful, quiet and just made from pure perfection. But here he was. Just a man who wanted justice and even fun.

Aristaeus quickly noticed his confusion and leaned down to him. "Don't take him too serious.", he whispered in his ear and chuckled. "Life is a roller-coaster of emotions as the humans like to say." Aristaeus felt like it was time to finally get the meeting going and guided his uncle and Silthos to the table with the other gods. "Are you ready?"

Silthos just shook his head while smiling a little. Leading an army of gods against his grandfather. Of course, he wasn't ready.

The table in the middle of the conference hall was now filled with gods. Silthos stood at the end of the glass table and watched the chatting deities. He took a deep breath before his words filled the atmosphere. "Thank you all, for being here today.", Silthos started his speech and all gods stopped their chatting and turned their heads to the young god. "As you are all aware... Aristaeus and I were ordered to retrieve the flaming blade of Xyliath from Lunaan's possession, but what we found was a pressing concern regarding my own grandfather - Aurelius. It has come quickly to light that Aurelius harbours the intention of reshaping the mortal world and expending his power recklessly. I have uncovered and undone the harm he did on the god of blood and war, stealing his emotions to provoke bloodshed among the humans." The redhead slowly lifted his hand and stroked over his scar on the neck. "The moment I questioned the actions of my own blood I was punished and burned by the flaming hand of Aurelius. This moment opened my eyes and let me see the monster that the son of the sun had become." The god of love and desire continued his speech, retelling the intentions of Lunaan and the meeting with his sister. Furthermore, he explained the crucial behaviour of the followers of Aurelius. All gods clinging to his lips, devouring every word of him, even Lunaan finally began to see what Aristaeus had seen for so long. A leader, the priceless one of union and love.

Aristaeus stood by his side, not once taking his eyes of the other god. This is what he had meant. Silthos was destined to do this and there was no one better to stand on the side of humankind than the god of love. Fighting a war was easy. Being brutal was easy. But showing compassion and kindness, even to people that wronged you, that was something not many could do. Even when the humans haven't been good to Silthos, he still stood by their side because he saw the good in them. Aristaeus took a short look around and relaxed his shoulders. All the gods gathered around where people that agreed with them. And even though Aristaeus didn't have strong connections with most of them, he was sure that they were honest with their intentions when it came to Silthos. They saw the god of love and desire as much more than a pretty face and this was what he had wanted them to see.
When Silthos ended his speech, many of the gods were looking at the man with admiration. "It seems to me that we have let Aurelius rule for too long.", Xoton said and knocked against the table. "Now from what I understand, the sword is hidden in a safe place. That gives us an advantage on the battlefield." Aristaeus nodded and rolled back his shoulders. "The fighting is not the important part." he stated, his voice calm and collected. "Aurelius is going to find the sword sooner or later. But before he gets the chance we have to take his powers away." Aristaeus then slowly started to roll up his sleeves, revealing the ancient tattoos on his forearms. "We created humanity, but they have become strong and knowledgeable. There is an old cave in the mountains of east Asia, that has the ability to cage a god and his powers. No one can get out of there if a human themselves doesn't unlock it." This was the plan. If Aurelius was not killable, the least they could do is lock him away for eternity. As long as the sword doesn't get into the wrong hands, they could end this without any more bloodshed. But of course he knew that there would be blood. Silthos would die. And he would die through the sword because it was the only thing that could be able to kill him. Aristaeus tried not to bother his mind as to how the sword could get out without Lunaan's powers. It seemed impossible, yet he knew that it would happen.

"My ears recognise the knowledge of this cage.", Lunaan suddenly started to explain and all other gods looked at him surprised. His cold blue eyes shimmered in the light. "The legend of the cavern veiled in shadows, carved from the very heart of obsidian and adorned with gleaming violet crystals. Within its depths lies a formidable power - to imprison a god. Yet, only mortal hands may wield this ancient magic, opening the cage and sealing it tight.", the god of the moon retells the ancient tale. Omes raised an eyebrow. "Our deities never in history cooperated with mortals. It would take some time to encourage and make a human understand our motives." Lunaan went quiet for some time and just stared at Omes. Then his sharp voice broke the silence: "Vincent, my love. Come here."