Stone and wood rained down on the interior of the church as Elias grinned maniacally while watching as the gigantic arm of one of the creatures, he had brought into this world, levelled half of the building as it continued on its path toward Fellaroth. Splinters of wood and still-lit candles flew through the air as the enormous hand made contact with Fellaroth, seeming to pass right through him as though he was nothing more than a projected image. Moments later a howl of excruciating pain bellowed down from above, as the gargantuan arm withdrew, with no more than tattered flesh clinging to what was left of its forearm.
"You know me to be a God Elias! Did you really think that there was anything in this world that could do me any harm?" asked Fellaroth, having never taken his eyes off of Elias even for a moment. Looking down on Elias now, Fellaroth saw that the smile had been wiped from his face and had been replaced by a look of horror and desperation.
"You are not the true God!" yelled Elias as he scrambled over the rubble of the now-fallen wall of the church, headed for the town square in front of the church. "My creatures will prove that much!"
Fellaroth spread his large golden wings, and with a single downward stroke, was propelled through what was left of the church's roof and sored high into the air above the town, leaving dust and yet more rubble to fall from the destroyed structure as darkness once again enveloped its interior. Floating in the skies above the town, with his wings unmoving, Fellaroth surveyed the area, becoming more and more upset as he saw the level of cruelty and suffering that the people of this town had endured. Now able to truly observe his surroundings, not as an adventurer, accompanied by his party, but rather as the true God he was, Fellaroth saw the true state of things. The people of this town had not simply experienced a single dramatic and horrific event that drove them from this place. They had been living beneath the thumb of a cruel and demented fiend, who had misused his ill-gotten powers and had tormented the people he saw as lesser beings for some time. The dilapidated and squalid condition that the town was now in was not the doings of the vial creatures that now roamed its streets, but was instead the result of people who were forced to live in subhuman conditions, given only what was needed for them to survive, while they served the every whim of the being that clearly thought himself a God in the making.
Broken rooves and long decaying corpses told the story of this town. A story that had not begun recently. A story that enraged Fellaroth. "Is this what you would do with power? Is this what you would have the rest of this world look like? Do you want nothing more than a world in which people are made to suffer from birth until death while they serve the twisted fancies of deranged overlords?" Fellaroth yelled with such anger that the shockwaves of his power pulsated through the town with each question that he asked, causing the windows to shatter, and weakened rooves to fall in. "Is this the result of my own hubris?" he added more quietly, as he realised that he was partly to blame for what he saw before himself.
"This is all humanity is good for. You taught me that!" yelled Elias in response from the ground far below, causing Fellaroth's gaze to fall directly on him for the first time since he left the church. There in the centre of the town square, standing in the shadow of the church steeple, cast by the brilliant glow immitted from Fellaroth, stood the heavyset figure, surrounded by a number of humanoid creatures and behemoth guardians. "Come forth sentinels of the abyss and show this fool who the true Gods of this world really are!" he added, causing dozens of winged creatures to suddenly appear from magic circles in the skies above the town.
Each sentinel appeared from the void with their halberds floating alongside it and beneath their large, tattered wings that generated a vial ominous sound that filled the air. The sentinels hovered in the air, where they had each been conjured, their wings slowly falling and lifting to keep them in place, as their long slender tails twitched back and forth impatiently. A faint clicking sound echoed through the air and seemed to be emanating from the withered mouths that were partially veiled beneath the long leathery skin that hung from their cheeks and draped their upper bodies and arms. "What are you waiting for, I am your master and I have ordered you to attack that fool!" yelled Elias upon hearing these faint noises that he had never heard them make before.
"They are communicating with each other. Trying to decide whether or not it is a good idea to attack me. You see, unlike the other creatures that you have brought into this world, these are not just mindless beasts. These are creatures that were created with a purpose. Given the name you called them by, I would assume that their purpose is to guard something, and seeing as guarding cannot be done by a mindless drone, these creatures were given intelligence, but with intelligence comes mindfulness, which in turn leads to the fear of things that can do one harm. These creatures know that they are outmatched, and are unsure if they should obey you or not."
"You don't know what you're talking about! I summoned them here, I am their master, and they are my puppets, and puppets will always do as they are told! Now I order you to kill that false God!" yelled Elias with such rage that spit flew from his mouth, spurring the sentinels into action. With his words still ringing through the square, a single long, loose-skinned finger on the left hand of one sentinel's twitched, causing it halberd to fly through the air, impaling Fellaroth through the chest, causing Elias to scream with raucous laughter as he yelled… "Yes, that's it, that's it my pets. Kill him, kill him now!" at which point dozens of halberds were hurled through the air, impaling Fellaroth from all sides. "You see! They will always listen to their master, you're not so smug now, are you?" … "Why hasn't he fallen from the air yet?" he thought to himself as he continued to crane his neck in an effort to see Fellaroth. A dreaded silence filled the air as the sentinels, humanoids, behemoths, and Elias, all stared up, waiting, watching, and wondering what was happening.
"Did you really believe that these creatures could harm me?" Fellaroth's calm voice broke the silence as the halberds that were embedded in his body began to disintegrate into a fine dust that was blown away by a slow gust of wind, revealing Fellaroth to be completely unscathed. Upon seeing their weapons vanish, the sentinels began to summon magic circles of their own, quickly backing into them in an effort to return to where they had been summoned from. Seeing the magic circles appear, Fellaroth reached behind his back and drew his small spear, which he then slashed through the air in a wide arc, slicing not only every sentinel before him in half, but also every building that was in the path of his slash. Buildings crumbled to rubble as the bodies of the sentinels crashed to the ground in quick succession, leaving Elias dumbfounded.
Elias stood stunned and horrified as he scanned the scene before him. The bodies of his summoned creatures, sliced effortlessly in half, lay scattered on the ground of the square before him, while on the far side of the square, as the dust began to clear, he saw that all that was left of the buildings that were still standing, had been cleanly sliced through, as though they were no more than paper. "But how is this even possible? You didn't even make contact with anything? No being in existence should have this kind of power!"
"Now you're starting to understand what it truly means to have the power of a God, Elias." Fellaroth's voice was so calm and quiet that it sent a shiver down Elias' spine. It sounded so close to him that he dared not turn around. He stood still, rooted in place for a moment, before timidly turning to find that Fellaroth had appeared beside him in an instant, as the creatures that surrounded them both had begun to fall to dust around them. Elias let out a loud screech as he quickly backed away, stepping on the back of his faded vestments and falling to the ground as he cowered in fear.
"Those are the vestments of the human faithful, are they not?" asked Fellaroth, looking more closely at Elias' robes and stepping closer, causing Elias to scamper away like a frightened pup.
"I… I can see now that you are the true God of this world, Lord Fellaroth… I, I don't know how I could ever have fallen so far from your grace, or how I could ever have been tempted to commit such atrocities in this world. I cannot ask for your forgiveness for all that I have done, I only ask that you judge me fairly and make my death as quick as that of these creatures." Blabbered Elias, scrambling to his knees and prostrating himself before Fellaroth, not daring to look up from the ground on which his head now rested.
"Rise Elias!" said Fellaroth, causing Elias to lift his head and see Fellaroth's outreached hand. Elias timidly took Fellaroth's hand and continued to stare down at the ground as he was gently lifted to his feet. "You are not solely to blame for what has become of you Elias, a large part of the blame for this outcome lies squarely on my shoulders!" Fellaroth said, resting a hand on Elias' left shoulder, causing him to shudder as a dull light started to appear from under Fellaroth's hand. The light pulsated slowly at first but quickly grew faster and brighter, until a blinding flash filled the square, causing Elias to flinch and close his eyes tightly.
A warm feeling overcame Elias for a moment as the light began to fade, allowing him to open his eyes once again. Feeling both lighter and suddenly very tired, Elias looked down and saw that not only had his once faded vestments been renewed, but he had also regained his slender frame, revealing the handsome young clergyman that Fellaroth had remembered.
"But… I don't understand. What have you done to me?"
"I have cleansed you of the dark powers that were granted to you Elias. Your large form was a result of a large amount of unnatural and unearned power being forced into your body before it was ready to receive it." Answered Fellaroth, standing with his back to Elias.
"Thank you, Lord Fellaroth! After everything that I have done, I don't deserve any of this… Can I ask why it is that I feel so tired?" asked Elias, looking down at his hands and seeing them visibly ageing before his eyes. "I see… Thank you, Lord Fellaroth!"
"The path you had chosen was not one that you alone had forged." Said Fellaroth, turning and facing the rapidly ageing man. "It was one that was birthed from desperation and confusion. One that could easily have been avoided, had I only done my duties as a deity. Please, Elias, I ask that you forgive me for what I made you become, and know that I am here in this world so that I can set right all the wrongs that I have committed. Rest now Elias Maximillian Thaddeus Valtier, Pope of my religion, and true believer in me." Said Fellaroth, placing the tips of his index and middle fingers on Elias' forehead.
"You need not ask for my forgiveness, Lord Fellaroth, for it is freely given." Answered Elias, as another flash of bright light filled the square.