The body fell over, face-first onto the moss-covered floor, the door behind crumbled, an explosion shook the entire dungeon. Pained cries of goblins echoed in the distance.
Moros heard none of that, he had lost his consciousness. The damage and injuries piled up over the weeks had caught up to him.
The room before him fell to darkness, all light faded and the space itself distorted. It changed its appearance. It was not a room, any longer it was a wet cavern, with thick tide of a green sludge, a liquid spreading across its edges.
Screaming goblin faces, frozen in eternity, swam amidst the waves of miasma. Heads without bodies, bodies without soul, creatures without a core and in its midst Moros unmoving body.
At the edges, white, big spikes appeared, droplets dripping. Sharp they were, aligned to close in, leaving no room to escape.
They were teeth, they were closing.
It was a mouth.
Darkness in silence, merely saliva echoed in the confines of this entrance to something sinister.
A tongue, a pink mass 3 adult humans in its width wrapped around the body. Coating the flesh in translucent mucus, seeping into the skin.
"Halt," it echoed in the darkness, a voice distorted, spoken by countless creatures, small and weak.
"It isss different," another voice added. Its hiss reverberated throughout. Low in frequence, inhuman in nature, it was barely audible like a whisper.
"IT REEKS, IT REEKS!" screamed a high-pitched third entity, driven to madness.
"The ssstench of Godsssss."
"KILL IT, KILL IT."
"Tainted it is, a god it is not," a fourth voice spoke, an old voice…older than the planet, older than time.
"Is it kin? Is it our kind?" The first spoke, all creatures in it howling in unison.
The fourth kept silent, deep in thought about the question.
A drop of red blood emerged from the mucus, floating in the air trapped in stasis.
"It bleeedssss red."
"NOT BLUE, NOT GREEN?"
"An existence neither of Äethar, nor of primal origin. Its essence resembles those of the impure lowborns, traces of their influence corrupting it. Yet it remains pure, its will free still."
[...??? The old God…??? Discovered…host is advised to flee]
"It knows of ussss."
"DEATH TO IT!!! DEATH TO ITT!"
"Were we not purged of all records?"
"Silence!" the fourth voice commanded, an oppressive force quelling the other voices in the room.
"This one, it is different. Neither divine nor primordial, neither pure nor wholly corrupt. It must be tested."
The mouth stopped closing, the teeth staying in place. The tongue retracted, disappearing into the black void.
A wounded teenager hovered in the air, kept up by some unseen, otherworldly force.
The mucus covering Moros fell to the floor, sinking into it, the river of green sludge, brimming with horror, evaporated into thin nothingness.
Just perfect darkness remained.
"What sssshall the test be?" the second voice hissed, curious was its tone.
"Its desires, its wishes. ," the fourth voice replied. " Does its nature align with theirs or with ours?"
From the void a small hand appears, invisible to the naked eye. Its movement causing ripples and tears in space itself It opened up to reveal a small winged insect that rested in its palm.
Prompted by the hand, the insect flew towards the body in a steady place, before landing on the top of its head.
Using its sharp claws it sank them down, digging into flesh, digging through the skull, nesting itself right into Moros brain.
Am insect, small and insignificant flew through the air, descending fromThe surroundings shifted. Moros's unconscious mind was plunged into a surreal landscape—a vast, desolate wasteland under a crimson sky. Shadows moved erratically, forming twisted shapes and figures.
An image was conjured in the darkness, the vast mindscape of Moros was depicted and eyes by the entities lurking between the layers of reality.
Desolate and destroyed, a city lay in ruin in its midst a look-alike of Moros waited for the man to approach it. It spoke in a voice that was his, but yet it seemed foreign,
"What do you desire, Moros? Is it Power? Revenge? Women? Fame? Or something else?"
The image transformed, displaying illusions of endless possibilities. Moros stood as the victor over a dragon, a smile etched on his face In another vision he stood, as the head of the Terra family, everyone paying their respects, bowing in front of his presence.
In others he was surrounded by beautiful women, saving the world, had crowds chanting his name and saw him fight beasts in brutal battle.
Yet, all these temptations vanished not long after, merely the fights persisted for longer, lingering on for a while.
Silence laid over the room, the entities in their countless years of existence, utterly confused by the being they watched over.
"How can it not ssssooooome desire?"
No answer to that question could be found. This strange being followed no doctrine, no godly will. This was a creature that went against the order of nature itself.
In all their experience no thing had fallen in a category of such kind. The mere thought of an existence so absurd defiled their understanding of reality and their faith in the truths of life itself.
"IS IT SICK??? IS IT SICK, JUST….LIKE…Meeee??" the second voice screamed ,filled to the brim with a twisted sense of happiness.
"I LIKE IT, I LIKE IT"
"Is this thing not a mistake? Are its mental facilities stable? Does it perhaps not have a soul?"The many voices coming together as one, muttered silently into the dark.
Any such attempt at explaining the sight before them ended in utter failure, the creature on 2 legs appeared to be a riddle that could not be solved.
"Choose, Moros. Reveal what you truly seek." the mirrored image of the Terra family descendant asked the unconscious man.
To the unconscious mind, these were not just illusions. Each vision was a lifetime lived, countless experiences made. Sheer endless emotions were felt, all aspects of life were touched upon.
And yet these sensations did not resonate, they simply faded away, no reluctance was shown, no emotional response to the multiple lives lived in a matter of seconds.
"I do want money, I want untold riches, I want cash, I want currency, I want to be loaded, I want to swim in coins, I want to be filthy rich, I want to be a millionare, I want big money. I want capitalism to be my bitch."
Once again the age-old entities felt their view of the world shattered, what was his uttermost desire? They could not fathom what it had just said?
What even was a capitalism and why did he voice his intention to be its master?
Was it perhaps a mighty creature they had never heard about? Or was it perhaps, a thing, which ruled above the laws of creation itself?
This capitalism appeared to be a mighty beast, one they should pay close attention to. Because none of them knew whether it was a foe or a potential ally.
"This being, it confuses me greatly" the fourth voice spoke in a solemn tone.
It need not be said that their next course of action would have significant impact in their war, for their plans, for the future of everything.
This creature walked on 2 legs, defied their knowledge, and seemed to have desires belonging to values far outside of good or bad. Whether it posed a danger or held untold potential none of them could tell.
"I ssssseeee it as a threat. We can not work, with what we can not undersssstand"
"IT REEKS OF GOD SWINE. YET, I WANT IT ALIVE"
"We should not forget, it might not be the only of its kind…our decision should not be hasty" The first voice warned, fear mixed with excitement within." This could be a tool to turn the tides of war…"
The fourth voice kept quiet, it needed to determine the best course of action. As the first of its kind, its decision would be final.
After comparing the advantages to the dangers it posed, it could not disagree with the point the mother of snakes had made.
Yet, the point raised by the other 2 proved far more important.
They had waited in the shadows for eons, patiently waiting for the chance of payback, the hopes had always been slim to non-existent and this strange body and weird being might just very well be the perfect tool for revenge, for the death of the gods.
"In our best interest, we shall just observe. The insect inside shall deliver to us, more insights to adapt our plans and to lurk away from their perception for now"
The 3 other old gods accepted tis reasoning, they saw it a great strategy.
"I sssseee the insect sssserves as an insurance. Should the godsssss seek for information, it would render the being incapable of thought and destroy its mind."
.
"GOOD IDEA; GOOD IDEA, GOOD IDEA,"
"It is better for us to use indirect means. The time for our return is not yet ripe. Yet, I shall still grant it a little of my powers. That risk, I shall carry it."
Silence for the room and Moros body fell down onto the tongue, a wet splooge filled the scenery of absolute nothing.
The body convulsing, a new energy settling within his body, clashing with the tainted essence determined in the observation of the subject.
Silence once again.
Things would change for Moros, for the Old Gods.
A big stone had been set into motion…and Moros would soon learn that his body was not the same any longer.