Iyseuss appeared outside the top floor of the Tower to find Yohr pacing around.
"Yohr?" He called out hurriedly.
Yohr raised his head quickly.
"What happened?" Iyseuss asked when Yohr remained silent.
"I'm not entirely sure. I came here as quickly as I could but I can't enter the room."
"Then father must be blocking us out." Iyseuss cursed under his breath.
Iyseuss instantly gave up and leaned against the nearby wall in unrest. He couldn't keep himself still as he thought of his brother in worry.
'Surely father didn't kill him.' He thought in concern.
That's when Yohr spoke up in a quiet voice.
"I could try to break in."
"What?"
Yohr was the god of space so there was a chance, albeit an infinitely slim one.
"I've done it before but father scolded me. I'm not sure if he sealed it off completely this time because I haven't probed it for weaknesses."
"I'm fine." A third voice echoed in the hall.
The two gods quickly looked towards the bright light to find Vostus slowly walk out from it unharmed. However they couldn't bring it to say anything when they couldn't sense him. Instead they watched him with stunned faces.
"What have you done?" Iyseuss asked with a hoarse throat.
"I'm still not entirely sure." Vostus admitted. "You came too Yohr?"
"Y-yeah." Yohr said with hesitation.
Vostus nodded and wasn't exactly sure where to go from there. Technically he could do whatever he wanted now, even neglect his duties. The three stood around awkwardly, all deep in thought.
Eventually they all left the Tower separately and Vostus headed back to his temple in the woods. He began making himself tea but couldn't bring himself to enjoy the atmosphere like usual. He still had lingering regrets about the decision that ran through his mind over and over.
Two months passed like that.
He stayed in his temple unsure of what to do anymore. It was all a burden to him now. His brother kept coming to the temple to try and cheer him up but nothing ever worked. Eventually Vostus grew silenter and silenter until he basically stopped talking all together. His regret about the decision kept growing.
Then a year passed.
"You need to get out Vostus."
Vostus looked at his brother and sighed.
Then Iyseuss spoke with conviction.
"Seriously. All I do is worry about you nowadays. I've come to a decision, if you aren't going to leave, I'm going to. I won't even bother coming here anymore."
Vostus lifted his cup but put it back down without taking a sip. Eventually he opened his lips.
"...Fine."
With that he headed outside to the wider world. All to appease his little brother. It was snowing in the open streets and few people were walking around outside. He wore a cloak with the hood covering his head.
He made his way around, avoiding the people his brother would instead want him to talk to, but that wasn't part of the deal. Eventually he came to a stop outside of a building he recalled from a long time ago. He wasn't sure why he had made his way there, but he did.
He entered a bar without much thought and found the cozy atmosphere nice. There was a nice fire that someone was stoking gently and the building wasn't cramped with people. Everyone sat at their tables and talked quietly as they sipped from their various beverages and ate some food.
He sat at the bar without much thought and ordered some food. He disliked the taste of alcohol immensely, but the food looked and smelt good. The bartender left with Vostus' money and told the cook what he wanted.
"You damned cheat!"
"You're the damn cheat! Don't think I didn't notice you swap out your cards!"
Upon hearing a loud argument behind him, he suddenly felt a strange case of deja vu. His brows furrowed and he spun around to look at the source.
There he saw a rowdy dwarf and a really familiar woman. He squinted his eyes before suddenly widening them.
"What was her name…?" He muttered under his breath. "I think brother said it was Sybell."
Their shouting was rapidly growing in loudness before Sybell began grabbing the dwarf's drinks and tossing them at him. Since she was seeing three dwarves however her aim was off, resulting in one of the drinks smashing into Vostus. His hood fell off and he was drenched in it.
He looked at the two with anger bubbling in his emotions as his hair dripped alcohol. He took a deep breath and calmed himself before standing up.
"Isn't that…?"
"I heard he disappeared."
Upon Vostus' standing, the bar erupted in whispers. He ignored them and walked over to the two.
Like a year ago, the dwarf instantly sobered upon seeing Vostus' figure. The dwarf tried to get Sybell to notice him but it only resulted in her getting more hostile, thinking that he was trying to fight.
"I'll knock your teeth out!" She swung her fist, missed the dwarf completely, and face planted onto the table, knocking herself out cold.
Vostus stared at the scene in utter disbelief. Then the dragon began snoring as if nothing happened.
Vostus couldn't help it and let out a small laugh at the incredibly stupid moment. The dwarf attempted to lift her to take her home but stumbled and fell.
Usually they just stayed at the bar which also doubled as an inn, but the god of death made him nervous. Vostus just shook his head and lifted the dragon in humanoid form.
"Come on, I'll just take her home again. Show me the way, I don't remember."
"Aye sir." The dwarf said while making their way to the door.
He exited the building quickly.
However when Vostus got to the door, someone stepped in front of him.
"Do you think you'll ever die too?" He abruptly asked before spitting on Vostus, "Take that to hell whenever you go, why don't yah?"
He knew that Vostus just accepted whatever people dished out for whatever reason. It was generally common knowledge, especially in their city where the gods lived. He sat down with their companions and Vostus looked at them with tired eyes.
He opened the door to the outside and left the building looking for the dwarf. He found the dwarf laying on the snow making little angels.
"Come on." Vostus said causing the dwarf to jump up. The three quickly made their way back to Sybell's little shack.
He opened the door and spoke to the dragon, "Sybell, you're home."
"Uhh?" She looked around and saw her tiny pile of coins that had barely grown in a year on the floor, "Ah!"
She crawled out of Vostus' arms and made her way over to them. She laid in the coins and looked out the door.
"Mr. Vostus?" Her eyes widened a bit.
"Hello." Vostus said with a smile.
"Its nice to see you again. Ya know, I thought of a good name for you, but thought you wouldn't want me to bother you." She said groggily.
"Oh? Do tell."
"Auclair, I think it has a nice ring to it." She closed her eyes and smiled. "I read it in… in…."
Her body started tilting until she fell asleep atop her money. Vostus shook his head in disbelief but ultimately smiled at the funny sight.
"She talked about you a lot." The dwarf suddenly said. "She doesn't usually do that. I guess she found you pretty interesting."
Vostus nodded and asked, "Do you guys always go there and get drunk?"
"Once a week! You should come by sometime."
"I don't really-" Upon remembering his promise to his brother he stopped. He then said, "Actually, yeah. Alright, I'll be there, what day?"
The dwarf told him of when to come and the two parted ways.
"Oh, I never asked you your name either." Vostus suddenly realized.
"It's Helgrom. Helgrom Jademane at yer service." The two shook hands.
A week later he visited the bar they were at.
"Ah, Mr. Vostus!" Helgrom shouted and lifted his drink.
Sybell turned and saw Vostus entering the bar.
"Ah! Auclair!" She shouted and lifted her shot glass.
Vostus scratched his head with a smile upon hearing the name and walked over. He sat at the third seat the other two had pulled over.
"So what game were you two playing for you to get angry enough that a god broke you up, not once, but twice."
Sybell sipped at her drink and answered, "Well actually it happens fairly often. A god breaks up one of our fights at least once a month."
"…what?" Vostus blinked.
"Anyway, we play Qyuc'ouda Pwil'thiicna'iao Vaunc'waial. It's fairly popular in the southern continents."
"…I see. That's an… interesting name to say the least."
"It's dwarven and its dumb. Like most dwarven stuff." Sybell provoked the dwarf immediately.
"Don't let her lie to you mister, it's draconic, and very, very stupid. Like all draconic stuff."
Vostus looked back and forth at the two and was very confused.
"But that was the wisp language. Why is it in the wisp language? It means, 'This stupid game sucks.' Also, wouldn't you know if it was dwarven or draconic?"
The two shut their mouths. Then they both took a sip from their drinks and tried to look innocent.
"I take it you didn't know that?" Vostus asked with narrowed eyes.
Sybell coughed, "O-of course we did. Why wouldn't we? Ha… Ha…" She chuckled nervously.
Vostus tilted his head in confusion and decided to order a beer. He might as well get drunk with them despite disliking the taste.
The two began explaining to Vostus the rules when the drink arrived. He took a sip of it and puckered his lips at the taste.
"Mmm, yep, just like I remember." He said weakly.
"I take it you don't like beer, what, you think it tastes bad or something?" Sybell asked with a smug smile.
"I wouldn't throw rocks in a glass house, Miss One-Shot-Then-I'm-Drunk." Vostus retorted with a grin.
"See, you're getting' it lad." Helgrom said to Vostus with a chuckle. "Provocations all around."
Helgrom dealt the first game's hand and everyone began their betting. An hour later and the two of them were completely drunk and Vostus was quite buzzed.
The bartender watched the game in befuddlement. Usually the gods cleared them out, what would happen now? They just decided to clean some glasses and pray, although praying probably wouldn't help in this case.
The door to the bar opened and a group of people walked in. Then sat down at their usual table and ordered a round. A man leaned back in his chair and looked at the rowdy gamblers who were always there and saw Vostus.
His attention immediately was drawn to Vostus' smiling and laughing face. He was really enjoying his time it seemed. The man, the very same man who spat on Vostus the week prior, felt disgusted.
"Look at 'em. How can someone as vile as that smile? How come he gets to laugh after all he's done?" The man said to his companions.
The others looked at Vostus and shook their heads in disapproval. They received their alcohol and kept drinking while discussing Vostus in hushed whispers.
"No wonder you have such a pitiful treasure pile." Vostus laughed as he pulled all the coins in the pot towards himself.
"You take that back!" Sybell yelled with tears in her eyes.
"Alright, alright!" Vostus quickly rescinded his statement.
"Ha! You might've won the game, but I won my dignity back!" She yelled nonsensically as her tears vanished as quickly as they appeared.
"You crocodile tear motherf-" Vostus was saying before he was suddenly cut off with a beer smashing into his face.
"Can I not go one time here without getting doused in beer!" Vostus yelled in dismay. Then his chair was kicked out from beneath him and he fell to the ground.
His brain took a moment to process the information. He thought the beer was from Sybell or Helgrom, but they wouldn't stoop so far as to kick the chair out from under him, at least not yet.
So who did?
"Ah." It all clicked in his head when a boot was rapidly descending towards his face. When it hit him, he didn't feel a single thing and slowly made his way onto his feet.
"You rat bastard! What gives you the fuckin' right? Eh? You took my fuckin' wife! My fuckin' kid!" The man from last week yelled and grabbed Vostus by his clothes.
Vostus just let the man get his anger out like usual, but then suddenly the man was struck by a fist. Vostus looked at his hand in confusion before realizing the fist belonged to Sybell.
"Simon, shut up." She wobbled out of her seat with a flaming hiccup. "And you. Vostuck, Vosttt… Vos… Ah fuck it, Auclair. You need to start standing up for yourself. You're pitiful!"
Vostus looked at her as she rubbed her tired eyes. Then she was hit in the back of the head with a chair and collapsed to the floor.
Helgrom quickly kicked the table, launching it into the man who had hit her. The coins on the table flew into the air before cluttering to the ground. Helgrom started fighting the other men as the bar suddenly started having a brawl.
However Vostus was looking at Sybell who had some blood trickling out of her head.
'Am I mad?' He asked himself in confusion, 'That seems to be what's happening, but why?'
As the blood reached her cheekbone Vostus' brows furrowed and the bar stopped entirely. Not a single soul moved an inch, not even the critters in the walls. Bloodlust began leaking out from Vostus as he looked up at the men.
Cold sweat began pouring down their bodies as Vostus stood. The threads of fate around him all kept continuing but for once in his life he didn't even pay attention to it.
He walked past the man who threw the beer at him and stomped on him and instead arrived at the man who hit Sybell with the chair.
He wasn't sure why, but he really wanted to kill him. His hand changed into a fist and he punched towards the man.
Except he didn't manage to hit him.
Yohr suddenly appeared and stumbled backwards. He fell on top of Vostus' intended target and began cursing.
"Holy shit, why are you so strong?! What the actual fuck?!" Yohr exclaimed incredulously while pain assaulted him. He gripped his head and thought, 'Something is definitely broken.'
"Ugh!" Yohr punched the ground in pain as he looked up at Vostus and yelled, "Calm the hell down man!"
Vostus erased his bloodlust upon realizing how mad he was. He sighed and apologized to everyone.
"It's fine, but I haven't seen you this pissed in… I don't even know how long." Yohr remarked in exhaustion.
Vostus rubbed his neck awkwardly as the bar slowly went back to life. Most people chose to pay their tab and leave however. The group of men didn't even think of leaving considering they most likely were in sizable trouble for attacking a god.
It was a rule to not attack anyone, especially not a god. Yet Vostus never enforced it against himself, but they knew he would this time. Especially after his reaction.
Vostus turned to see Helgrom inspecting Sybell's wounds.
"How bad is it?"
"She's a tough lass, she'll be perfectly fine I think."
As Helgrom said that, Sybell's eyes opened and the first thing she saw were all the coins scattered on the floor. As if completely unscathed by the wound, she pounced at them.
"It's mine! I saw it first!" She exclaimed to the bar. Then she noticed the awkward atmosphere.
She coughed.
"Uhhh… What did I miss?"
After that, Vostus kept revisiting the bar every week and grew close to the two. Vostus started doing his duties once more and actually began conversing with some of the races he encountered, although he still didn't do anything about those who spit on him or cursed his name.
The gods reacted with relief at Vostus' more outgoing personality, and actually began applauding him for it, although he still never went to their meetings.
Almost one hundred years passed and Helgrom grew a great big, gray bushy beard. He had become and older man now. Sybell looked exactly the same, as did Vostus. Civilization had advanced at a slow, yet steady pace.
The group all continued heading to the same bar once a week and their bills alone gave the place enough money to expand.
It was a fact that Vostus was not proud of since he usually had to foot the bill for Sybell.
After the bar incident, Sybell began calling Vostus 'Auclair' instead of his actual name.
The two were walking back to her shack alone as Helgrom headed to work when she asked about Vostus' name.
"Where'd you get that name by the way? The dumb one, not the cool one."
"Very funny." Vostus remarked, "We all got to make our own names when we were born."
"That explains why its so awful I suppose." She said with a shit-eating grin.
"Well where does your name come from?" Vostus asked.
"My parents of course. I think its nice, and Vostus isn't a bad name. But you've got to admit it, Auclair is much better."
"Eh."
"Come onnn…"
"Bah!" He waved her away dismissively.
"You know its true! Its the truth and nothing but man!"
Vostus felt a smile slowly blooming onto his face, "Alright, alright, its not bad."
"Yes!" Sybell threw her fist into the air in victory.
"Hey, I didn't say it was better than Vostus."
"But you implied it."
"No I didn't."
The two bickered all the way to her shack. Once they arrived, Sybell opened the door revealing the tiny pile of money that still hadn't grown in nearly 100 years. Vostus said his goodbye like usual and started leaving.
"Hey…"
But he stopped when Sybell called out to him. She faced away from him towards her shack.
"I think I might love you."
She mumbled before quickly running into her shack and slamming the door closed.
Vostus looked at her closed door with a small, but growing smile. He found his hands and legs beginning to tremble.
"I think I might love you too." He replied just loud enough for her to hear it.
The shack's door slowly crept open and Sybell stuck her head out. She had tears streaming down her face and a closed smile stretching across her face.