Chapters 1. The death of the old gods.
Alex Masters was a simple person. He was a young man who liked to relax by reading and playing games on the internet and a fan of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. He agreed to take his friends to a convention that was happening nearby and while he was a fan of games, TV, movies, comics and books he wasn’t the type to cosplay or go to a convention. Since he was here he might as well buy a few souvenirs for himself, just to add to his collection of trinkets. He walked around, saw many cosplays as well as regular fans buying and selling stuff, then he stopped in front of a peculiar booth.
Unlike other booths this one had no particular theme, instead had many items from different media and franchises.
“Over here, stranger,” said a merchant cosplaying as the Merchant of Resident Evil 4.
Alex approached the Merchant, still in character so he might as well call him that.
“Welcome,” said the Merchant quoting the actual character.
“Are all of these for sale?” asked Alex.
“Yeah, pretty much,” said the Merchant no longer using quotes and speaking normally.
Alex observed all the items on the table and on the shelves behind the Merchant, then he spotted what he was looking for.
“Saw something you would like to buy?” asked the Merchant.
Alex took a metal cube, a black sword and a golden short sword that was in the shape of a key.
“How about 150 for the Mother Box, the Necrosword and the Key of the Gates of Babylon,” said Alex after he collected the items he wanted to buy, however, he noticed a reddish tint on the weapon that should be jet-black but he chalked up to how it was made.
"C’mon you can do better than that, it's not easy to get those," said the Merchant clearly wanting more.
“Add the Book of the E.N.D. and the books with all Ansem and Xehanort’s reports for 200,” said Alex after he took the four books and placing them on the table.
“That’s better! Thank you, sir, enjoy the convention while you can,” said the Merchant before he put the items in a bag.
"Is that all?" asked the Merchant after he handled the purchase to Alex.
“Yes, that will be all,” said Alex politely.
"Come back anytime,” quoted the Merchant before waving at him and say in his normal voice, "have a safe trip."
Alex just thought that the Merchant was referring to his trip back home, so he didn't think much of that particular phrase. When he was about to leave he suddenly felt that he was falling, looking down he saw a hole on the ground that it wasn’t there, no it wasn’t a hole it was a black vortex/portal looking thing, he fell and everything went blank.
In the Void
Alex woke up in a white empty space the only thing in this place was a black floating sphere.
“Great not only I’m probably dead, I am also in this empty space, that is what you get for living a life without goals or ambitions,” said Alex to himself.
“Not exactly,” said a deep and raspy voice coming from the sphere.
“Who are you?” asked Alex.
“I am Grogar. I was once a powerful sorcerer, but my arrogance led to my downfall. Unfortunately, I was killed before finishing a certain spell, but seeing as I am truly immortal and incapable of being permanently killed the only way for me to move on is if another soul takes my mantle,” said the black sphere, or “Grogar”, introduced itself.
“Sorcerer as in magic?” asked Alex, intrigued by the idea.
“You are floating in a void after what you thought was your death and talking to a black sphere, so yes,” replied Grogar, the sphere pulsating each time he used his voice.
“Why would you need me if you can resurrect yourself?” said Alex not understanding the reasoning of the disembodied sorcerer.
“That's the problem: I don’t want to resurrect myself. I need a compatible soul to give my memories, knowledge and power, maybe a few of my personality traits will be passed on,” explained Grogar letting the fatigue be known in his voice.
“So this is basically a second chance on a new world as an evil sorcerer?” asked Alex, still having trouble comprehending what was happening.
“More or less, after searching the multiverse for so long I just want to rest but because of my spell I can’t go to an afterlife or even reincarnate, someone has to take my place, this being has to mantle me in order for me to have a semblance of rest,” Grogar explained further, letting know why he was doing this.
“Why me?” asked Alex still having trouble accepting this turn of events.
“You just happened to be the most compatible soul that I have found. The fact that your imagination combined with my knowledge will make you an even more formidable sorcerer than I was in life is just a bonus. One can say I hit the jackpot when it comes to finding my heir,” said Grogar eagerly.
“And if I refuse?” said Alex just out of curiosity.
“I will simply continue my search and you will go to whatever world/timeline/universe your displacer intended to send you,” said Grogar simply.
“Displacer?” asked Alex once again confused by the unknown terminology.
“Yes, you are what many would call a Displaced, short for Dimensionally Displaced, a random or not person sent to an alternative version of a fictional, to you, world and in this case a version of Equestria, most of the times in the form of whatever you were cosplaying as or with a connection to the artifact that you acquired,” explained Grogar to make sure that Alex understood the situation.
“Did you said Equestria? As MLP: FIM?” asked Alex as he watched the show when he was bored once and became a fan ever since. Now that he stopped to think about it Grogar was a villain from MLP before G4, he never bothered with the previous generations but he heard a few names that later appeared in G4 so he made a little bit of research.
“Yes but a little different than your universe’s interpretation of Equestria,” said Grogar with amusement in his voice.
“How do you know all of this?” asked Alex finding all this too suspicious even if it's real.
“Child, if you explore the multiverse long enough you can find anything, basically every work of fiction and its variations is a reality in some other universe, that's how I learned about the displaced and other versions of Equestria,” lectured Grogar.
Alex thought about his options: he could live in another world as a powerful sorcerer, an appealing option since he was a fan of fantasy settings like D&D, Warhammer and so on, or he could go to a random world, according to Grogar, as he was supposed to go, which was a big risk since he didn’t know where and when he would end up, in the end, his choice was clear.
“I accept your offer,” said Alex after thinking carefully about his available options.
“Not that I’m complaining, but why did you accept my offer?” asked Grogar expressing some curiosity as well.
“Let's just say that I’m a big fan of villains and my favorite trope is the 'Evil Overlord',” said Alex smirking.
“Whoever is your Displacer he/she/it will either be amused or angry that you somehow ended up somewhere else,” said Grogar before chuckling.
The black sphere shot into Alex's chest and sank into his flesh, soon he grabbed his head as images, memories of Grogar flooded his mind and everything went blank.
Tens of Thousands of years ago in the world known as Mundus
Grogar was a simple farmer tending to the land and growing the food needed to sustain his aging parents and little siblings that were too young to work. Being the eldest it was his responsibility to provide for his family, his brothers and sisters that were old enough to work weren’t at home at the moment, they were at the temple praying to the gods for good fortune. But he knew better, the gods do not care for the insignificant mortals that pray for them and Grogar understood that to live was to do so with your own strength, although he had no problem with the ones that believe in the benevolence of the gods.
However, all of that changed when the gods went to war with one another.
The battles between alicorns and draconequuses were cataclysmic and reshaped the land, it was one of these battles that killed Grogar's family, his father who was a simple farmer like himself, his mother who was a former priestess of a small temple for the alicorns and his five younger siblings.
The eldest brother beside Grogar himself was a believer and would always make an offer to the gods, the offer being a small portion of his meal, and prayed to them every day. The two eldest sisters were beautiful and they always came to talk to him about his doubts, maybe they wanted to follow their mother's hoofsteps and become priestesses to help others in need. And lastly, his three youngest siblings that just learned how to read, he remembers their smile as they spoke the words written in the scrolls with simple lessons.
All of that gone in a single moment as the battle between the gods raged, the only reason he hadn't joined the ashes of his family on the farm was because of the simple fact he was in the city trading few of farm’s vegetables for a present for his youngest sister, she always liked the sound of bells.
Grogar made a few bells using scrap and the metal of old farming tools, their sound wasn’t that great but she liked them because her ‘big brother’ made them, she was the only one that didn’t get a present to commemorate the beginning of their education, so he went to the city and got a golden bell, it was simple but well made and it produced a soft and relaxing sound.
Now the only survivor was on his knees as he saw the smoldering embers of what was once his home while holding on his right hand a present he will never be able to give to a sister he will never be able to see grow. He didn’t know how long he remained there on his knees but when night fell he just wanted this suffering to end, so he took out a simple knife and he was about to join his family in the green fields of the next life, but a single thought stopped him, “Then what?”
This tragedy was just one of many in this petty war among the gods, the hatred Grogar felt against the ones responsible not only for the death of his family but countless others as well was simply unimaginable to him before this day. He wondered how can a mortal have thought so full of venom and not poisoned himself, even with this newfound hatred he felt numb to the rest of the world. Taking whatever he could salvage from his former home, he made graves for his family, they were empty because there were no bodies left to bury, he did not pray, he refused to entrust his family journey to the great cosmic wheel to the gods, so he only made a promise.
“They will pay, not only for what they did to you but for all the prayers they ignored in their immortal lives, for all the hopes and dreams they crushed as an afterthought, I may never be able to see you again neither in this life nor the next one but I will make sure that none will suffer in the shadow of the gods,” said Grogar more to himself them the graves. Then he turned and walked away never looking back.
Many years later
It took almost a lifetime but Grogar made it. Since the day he buried his family, he became a sorcerer, it wasn’t easy to get his first book of magic and it was even less so to find a master willing to teach him. Most mages wanted young students, minds that would accept the views and ideas of the masters more easily. It took him years of search and effort but he found a mage that didn’t care about age just dedication to the craft.
Grogar almost died but he became that mage’s first and only student. Grogar learned much from him and for that, he will forever be grateful, but when the mage taught everything he could he was proud that Grogar could now call himself a true user of the mystic arts.
To delve deep into the arcane can change how you see the world, changes that Grogar welcomed. Part of him hoped that this would quell the hatred that burned and consumed the core of his soul, but in the end, it only made it stronger.
It didn’t take long for the goat to delve even deeper not only into the arcane but also the profane as well. He started to learn how to use both light and dark magic and more often than not he found himself drawn to the darker aspects of magic, but he never rejected the light. To him, it didn’t matter which aspect of magic he used so long it could be useful in his crusade against the gods.
Almost nothing of Grogar's former self remained, his once light gray almost white fur became dark blue, his eyes green like the fields on the farm he grew up were now blood red, instead of a shirt and simple pants he now wears a flowing purple robe, the only connection he had with his former self was a small golden bell hanging on a gold necklace.
Grogar learned how to channel otherworldly energies through his body, the cause of the changes, he even learned how to become a god himself. The ascension can be done alone or with the help of an already ascended being. He loathed this part of the plan but to bring down the gods it was necessary and he refused to ask for the help of another god.
First Grogar did a splitting spell on himself tearing his own body, mind and soul in two different beings, then if everything went as he planned each being would start a ritual of ascension on their own. The end result was two aspects of a single being possessing two physical shells, with that done he just had to wait for his magic to returns. It took almost a year but his two halves to readied themselves to enact his plans.
One half took the form of a 9ft tall and muscular alicorn with a dark blue coat, gray mane and tail, red eyes with the iris being a brighter shade of red than the sclera, the sigil on his flank was a golden bell with a gray seven-pointed star behind it and the tip of his feathers being a lighter shade of blue, the alicorn kept the golden bell on his neck.
The other half took the form of a draconequus with golden eyes with black sclera, dark gray scales covering his lean and lithe torso, the same goat head and horns as before but with dark gray in colors, his arms were black avian talons with gray feather from his shoulders to his elbow, his legs were covered with dark green scales similar to a dragon, his tail was also like that of a dragon but it ended in a V shape with two sharp blades made of bones and on his back were four wings, two big membranous wings like a bat and two smaller feathered wing beneath the first pair.
The two halves left their secret tower after dressing themselves, but not before they activated its defenses, there were enough spells on it to make sure that neither the alicorns nor the draconequuses would ever find this place. After that each half started to walk in the direction of the territory of the pantheon they intended to bring down from the inside, Grogar was one step closer to his revenge.
A millennia later
Grogar's vengeance was done, the two pantheons were so focused on destroying each other that it was easy for him to become an advisor for its respective leaders. The gods on both sides were so sure of their own power that they never tried to improve themselves. It was easy to convince them in doing a ritual that would concentrate their “superior magic” and destroy their enemy when in reality the ritual would drain them of their power allowing the opportunity for Grogar, both halves, to kill all of them.
Both pantheons did so and with their power drained Grogar killed almost all of the old gods with the exception of an alicorn filly named Faust and a young draconequus named Discord. But to make sure his vengeance was complete he used most of the power from the dead gods to create a new world, a dead and barren world, he did that to make sure that the power of these gods couldn’t be used to bring them back. Now with most the gods dead, he will leave Faust and Discord to make a new and better world, he didn't particularly care for the minor pantheons that were under the alicorns and draconequuses.
Grogar knew himself and that was why he would let these two young gods create a better future free from the hatred and sins of the past. Each one of his halves looked at a dagger that they keep hidden all the time, these were not simple daggers but daggers made of a combination of metals that nullified magic, essentially these were anti-magic weapons that he made as a way to kill any god that found out about his plans before they were ready.
Then both halves of Grogar locked themselves in their secret tower, soon to be tomb, and plunged the daggers in their own hearts at the same time.
Many millennia later
Grogar opened his eyes, a singular being once again. What happened? He should be dead. So he closed his eyes and felt his magic, looking for answers and he found them. The world, the dimension he created despite being barren acted as an anchor, so long as that dimension existed in one form or another he would always come back no matter how long it took. That was the irony, in his quest to kill the old gods he made himself truly immortal something that not even the gods managed to do.
Grogar laughed, he laughed so hard that he cried, because as far as he knew he was forever barred from leaving this existence. He didn't know how long he laid there laughing/crying, it could have been days, months, years or even decades. In the end, he just got up and inspected the tower. His lab had become dust but the structure was still holding, so he did a dating spell only to discover that many thousands of years had passed.
Seeing that Grogar had nothing else to do here he created a cloak and left the tower to explore this new era.
Few months later
It seemed that with the death of the gods the old civilization collapsed in an event that was remembered as the Great Collapse or the Great Calamity, in which all tribes regardless of species have lost a great deal of history and whatever knowledge of the old world that existed in the present was in the form of stories and legends. There were even legends about him, the story of how he killed the gods and restarted the cycle of nature, they could never agree on the details of how it happened or how he looked, it was amusing to see the different interpretations of his legend.
Speaking of legend Grogar discovered what happen to the alicorn filly that he spared, she now was the patron deity of the ponies, who had separated themselves in three tribes, as well as other equine races to some extent but unlike the old gods she didn't interact much with mortals, only enough to let them know that she existed and protected them from harm. This protection had the unfortunate side effect of letting pony civilization grow quicker than the others and because they never solved their racial issues the three tribes remained apart from each other but all of them agreed that ponies were better than the “savages” that lives outside of their lands.
In the end, Grogar got what he wished, a world without the tyranny of the gods. Speaking of gods apparently, Discord found a little territory to be his playground and he stayed there, the only mortals tormented by him were the ones foolish enough to enter his lands without his permission and he made sure to place warnings outside for all to see.
Grogar couldn't die and didn't have a reason to live, might as well travel the world.
Few years later
Grogar got fed up with the attitude of ponies really quickly, as far as he was concerned they would either die divided or survive together. He used his dark magic to give life to the cold winds of the north and gave them the ability to feed on hatred. Once that was done he unleashed the newly created wind spirits, later called Windigos, at the unsuspecting ponies. The most amusing development was after that was a splinter group that was formed just before the ponies reached “their” new lands, which happens to be Discord’s playground. Grogar can’t wait to see Discord's reaction after he wakes up from his long, really long nap.
Foolish ponies, they almost gave enough power to his Windigos to freeze Discord’s playground but it seems that they finally managed to work together to drive the Windigos off. An interesting side note was that the Windigos after feeding on the hatred of the ponies for so long gave them a more equine appearance.
The splinter group that was formed during their exodus moved to the north of the newly named nation of ‘Equestria’ and was made of ponies that were tired of the fighting between the tribes. They wanted to get away from the constant bickering, so they created a magical artifact to keep the blizzard on the north at bay while they use their magic to shape and carve the crystal that they brought to the surface. Once again foolish and arrogant, their careless attitude disturbed the Umbrums that lived under the surface, but that wasn’t his problem.
Grogar had to stop his trip, both in the real world and in his memories, when he noticed a familiar alicorn standing in front of him on the road he was walking.
“Are you the one responsible for the hardship of my little ponies?” asked Faust with a serious tone.
Grogar took in the image of strength and motherhood before him, she was no longer the crying little filly kneeling before him surrounded by the corpses of her fellow alicorns bleeding on the floor of their city made of marble and ivory that floated above the clouds. He remembered the look of hopelessness and resignation in her light blue eyes as he walked toward her, only to turn in disbelief as he walked past her as if she wasn’t even there. He remembered the sound of her little hooves hitting the floor as she got up and run while he stood there with his back to her just gazing at the flames that engulfed the once-mighty city of the alicorns.
Now Faust was a tall and proud mare, about 10 ft tall, not counting her long and sharp horn, her long and silk red mane and tail, her beautiful marble colored wing wider than she was tall, she was wearing a simple white greek dress that didn’t hide her ample and bountiful bosom and with slits on the sides of her dress allowing her to show her wide childbearing hips and strong legs ending on hooves wearing a pair of decorated silver horseshoes.
“Indeed I am, Lady Faust,” said Grogar’s deep and old voice.
Noting the tone of familiarity in his voice, Faust observed the mortal, she assumed, in front of her. He was wearing a cloak that obscured his body and face but through the shadows of the hood came two horns, by the way, they curved down and forward she could tell that the stranger before Faust was a goat, a very big one at that, bigger than most minotaurs, she could tell that if it wasn’t for his hunched posture he would be the same height as her, not counting her foot long horn, on his extended right arm was a staff, probably a magical focus, that also served as a walking stick, on this arm she could see dark blue fur.
“You speak as if you know me on a personal level,” commented Faust curious and wary of the stranger in front of her.
“Indeed I do, I still remember as you played with my golden bell on the gardens of the Ivory Palace,” said Grogar as he used his free hand to pull back the hood of the cloak and show his face.
Faust took a step back, she remembered those red eyes, eyes from a dark blue alicorn stallion that watch over her as she played in the gardens, a alicorn that later killed all the inhabitants of the floating city she was born in, a alicorn that always seemed uncomfortable in his own skin, her father former advisor Lord Grogar.
“Grogar,” said Faust as her voice and legs tremble, memories of the fall of the Ivory City coming back to her.
“It seems I still haunt your nightmares, little lady,” said Grogar as he resumed his walk.
“Come to talk to me when you become capable of having a normal conversation,” whispered Grogar in Faust's ear as he walked past her.
As Grogar left Faust fell on her knees, even after all these years deep down she still that little filly that got away because of his mercy. She felt fear not only for herself but also for her daughters if that monster still lives then what will happen once he learned of their existence? Her maternal instincts told her to kill him, but her childhood trauma and the logical part of her mind told her not to move because if she did so he might kill her and later go after Celestia and Luna, it seems that she had no other choice but to face the demons from her past.
With Grogar
It was a surprise to see the princess again, she became a beautiful mare. When Grogar looked at her he wondered what life he would have lived, would his siblings have found mates? Had children? Would he still be a simple farmer or he would have become something else? That was the reason he couldn’t bring himself to kill either Discord nor Faust, despite their heritage, they were just children at the time and looking at them reminded him of happier days.
Alicorns and draconequuses because of their immortal lifespan rarely had children so it wasn’t surprising that Faust and Discord never had other children to play with, so he ended up filling the role of big brother in their lives, yet another reason he couldn’t bring himself to kill them.
Getting back to reality he continued to walk on the road maybe find something to distract him from his boredom.
Decades Later
Grogar somehow amassed an army and in his boredom, he decided to take over the world since he had followers of all species but the bulk of his forces consisted of the Troggs or Troggles, tribes of porcine beings that were rejected and ridiculed by other species for not being as advanced or as educated, for being "uncultured swines". It was easy to rally all of them to his cause since they already worship him from stories passed through the generations. The promise of giving them all a new world made it even easier for them to accept Grogar’s leadership.
The sorcerer discovered that he can manipulate the dimension he created, now named Tambelon. On that barren world, he made lush green fields, sprawling jungles, long and tall mountain chains and every other environment he could imagine and lastly he made a city, which was also named Tambelon, to be the capital city and center of his empire.
That world became synonymous with paradise for all the cults that worshiped Grogar around the world. After the entirety of his forces settled in this new world he trained and educated them, he won’t have uneducated brutes for followers. But on the day before his campaign started a group of visitors came to the plains where he built the portal that connected Mundus to his Tambelon.
Three alicorn mares in armor, Faust was leading the trio with the other two being younger than her, probably her daughters. One had a white coat and pink mane and tail, figure wise she was like a smaller and younger version of Faust, being around 8ft tall. The other one had a dark blue coat and a light blue mane and tail, had a more petite, to him, figure being around 7ft tall.
“Finally decided to visit me, little lady,” said Grogar to Faust.
“How dare you speak like that to our mother,” said Luna, no one ever dared to speak to her was such a tone. But this was her first time meeting another god, even if she was unaware.
Faust raises her hand motioning for her to stop when Luna and Celestia were about to attack.
“He is the only being on this world that can talk to me like that, he killed armies of gods when I was just a little filly after all,” said Faust much to the shock of her two daughters.
“So why did you come here?” asked Grogar intrigued by their visit.
“To make you stop this madness. You once killed most of the old gods to free the world from their tyranny. You may have traumatized me, but then I saw what my family did to the world, to the mortals. I won’t let you follow the same path as the gods of old,” pleaded Faust to Grogar.
“Is that what you think, that I killed the gods for the good of the world? Maybe I did but the main reason I killed them was vengeance, vengeance for what they took from me. Now I am condemned to simply exist without a purpose, so I might as well follow my desires,” said Grogar.
“Why?” asked Faust trying to understand the old goat's logic.
“That's the weakness and strength of beings with reason, logic, emotions and free will little Faust. Even you found a purpose, can you honestly say that you could've lived until now simply by just surviving? Can you imagine yourself living happily without your daughters? Or even your precious little ponies to protect?” asked Grogar almost passionately.
Faust thought carefully about the questions that he asked, she thought about the life she lived since that fateful day, she remembered all the friends she made and lost, the days she almost gave up, the day she promised herself to help mortals and not follow the same path as her parents, the first stallions that loved her for who she was and most of all the days she held her daughters in her arms.
“You are right. I couldn't have lived without them,” said Faust with newfound conviction but also with sadness knowing what was to come.
“Then you have your answer. This isn't for the greater good, I am simply following my heart’s desire, no matter how selfish it may be. I always dedicated myself to my own selfish goals, why change now? Even if some of my goals happen to have good or bad repercussions,” said Grogar showing his charisma, inspiring his troops to dedicated themselves not only to the god they swore to follow but also to each other and themselves as well.
“Then you leave us no choice,” said Faust as she and her daughters got ready for battle.
“So be it,” said Grogar with a tone of finality.
What ensued was the first battle of a long war of Grogar’s army fighting against the ponies and their allies, in which many enemies were captured and sent to Tambelon.
Five years later
Faust laid on the floor defeated, of all the battles between her and Grogar she knew he was holding back, to him this war was like a game of chess but this last battle he fought with a ferocity she had never seen before. He might be an enemy but he was the only being she had ever admired both in power and conviction, he didn’t care about what was right or wrong, he followed his own code and desires.
“This seems to be the end, my old friend,” said Faust as she coughed blood.
Grogar stood over her defeated form without his cloak, which showed off his muscular body full of scars visible through his dark blue fur, with the golden necklace and a gray belt holding his bondage capri pants that have small runes on the length of its chains and straps, he just needed a crown to fit the motif of warrior-king/conqueror.
“Indeed little lady, now its time to end this,” said Grogar as he channeled the spell through his golden bell to drain Faust of her power.
This only became possible thanks to Bray, a donkey and court jester who served as a spy for the Dark Lord in the newly formed nation of Equestria. Bray had many deformities that make it difficult to have a normal life, result of a curse placed upon him by a vengeful and petty unicorn mage, but he never accepted pity of anyone, pony or otherwise. It was no surprise that Bray ended as a court jester, seeing as he had quite a talent when it comes to singing, telling stories and making others laugh, besides it was the only way to use his own misfortune to earn money.
Bray traveled from town to town to make a living until he caught the attention of the royal sisters and was offered the job, but he and Grogar made a deal, Grogar would heal him in exchange for his services and loyalty for as long as Grogar needed. Bray accepted the deal and Grogar made him ageless so he could serve his new lord for as long as Grogar wanted. Under Grogar’s order, Bray used a special poison on the water supply of the city that would make all mages and the princess fall into a coma that was supposed to last a month, actually anyone with a big enough magic reserve would fall into this coma.
Grogar then launched attacks on all nations allied with Equestria, it was so sudden they didn’t have time to react and because of that many prisoners were captured that day, which rendered them a non-threat to Grogar. After that he attacked Equestria itself, two weeks into his campaign and his victory were almost a certain but Faust woke up earlier, he underestimated her alicorn physiology. For days they battle, for the first time, Grogar let go of his self-control and just enjoyed the thrill of combat. At some point, the daughters had woken up as well and joined the battle, with their mother they fought against him but in the end, he won.
The royal sisters were not too far from where Grogar stood and were about to witness their mother’s inevitable fate. Out of desperation, Luna attempted to save her mother by shooting a beam of energy from her horn against Grogar. Against all odds, and out of sheer dumb luck, she managed to hit the bell on his neck and destroy it, which caused the chain reaction that resulted in an explosion of magical energy that killed Grogar and knocked out the two sisters.
The sisters would wake up three days later and be informed that Grogar was dead. The body of the dark sorcerer was taken by his forces but remembering their mother's stories of him they decided to not take any chances. They pushed back Grogar’s army back to Tambelon and put as many barriers as they could between Grogar’s domain and Mundus before destroyed the gateway, the physical structure anyway. It pained them to do so, as neither they nor their forces couldn’t cross the gate, which made rescuing the prisoners from whatever horrors that existed on the other side impossible.
As for their mother’s body, after many days searching on the battlefield in which that calamity happened, they assumed it was destroyed for being in the epicenter of the devastation. The scarred land left in the wake of that magical explosion would later be known as Badlands. There was no commemoration to this victory, only the remainder of what they lost. Now they only had each other and they will face whatever threat comes their way together.
While the sisters mourn the loss of their mother a umbrum foal, disguised as a black unicorn, was found near the Crystal Empire. In a relatively unexplored part of Equestria, a strange creature made of the parts of different animals was sleeping, then the last draconequus started to stir. In a distant kingdom two brothers, a centaur and a gargoyle were getting ready for their journey. Inside Celestia and Luna’s minds, the dark magic from Grogar started to take root, more so in Luna than Celestia since she was the one that created a connection with the goat before the chain reaction.
Tambelon, Capital City, Palace's throne room, present day
Alex woke up sitting in a chair as he opened his eyes and looked at a dark throne room. He was sitting on a throne and was about to get up when the double door at the entrance was opened by a small, to him, anthropomorphic pony girl in a maid outfit followed by an equally small anthro goat girl also in a maid outfit. When he tried to move his bones cracked, which caught the attention of the maids, so they turned to the source only to see Lord Grogar move and look at them.
The goat maid immediately turned and ran to warn the Herald of the awakening of their lord, the pony maid, on the other hand, was frozen in place.
“You!” said Alex using Grogar’s deep and raspy voice, which brought the poor pony back to reality.
“Y-y-yes, my lord,” said the pony maid as she bowed.
“Do you know how to massage?” asked Alex.
“No milord I don’t,” responded the maid.
“Them bring someone who can,” said Alex as he tried not to move too much.
“Right away sir,” said the maid as she bowed and walked away.
Alex moved his new body just a little, which caused cracking sounds to be made with every movement, “How long has Grogar not moved ?” he wondered.
“ Probably many millennia, if I had to guess,” said the voice of Grogar in Alex’s mind.
“Holy-!!” started Alex but then took a deep breath and calmed down.
“I thought that you would disappear,” said Alex aloud.
“You only need to think to communicate with me, and I did disappear, what you are hearing is just an ‘echo’ of what Grogar once was,” said the echo.
“Like this ,” thought Alex.
“Yes,” said the echo.
Their conversation was cut short by an anthro donkey in jester outfit entering the room but what surprised them the most was the tall red-maned alicorn following him.
Faust was alive and in Tambelon, but unlike the last time she was wearing a black greek dress and as she got closer to Grogar, Bray bowed.
“Master, you are awake!” said Bray but he was ignored as Faust now stood at Grogar's side and after extending her hands she started massaging Grogar’s shoulders. Alex just groaned in pleasure as he felt the stiffness of his muscles melt away.
“Tell me what happened after my death,” ordered Alex while looking at Bray.
“Of course my lord. After your death, Tambelon was sealed from Equestria but we manage to recover your body and the body of Faust. At first, we were confused and didn’t know what to do, then a pair of scroll appeared from a portal, they were your instructions and because they had your crest on them I knew they were real, so I followed the order in them,” said Bray as he presented a sealed scroll.
“Why are you giving me this?” asked Alex as a group of females of many different species arrived and started to massage his tired and stiff body.
“Apparently a letter from your future self with an explanation,” said Bray.
When Alex took the scroll he looked at the alicorn beside him and tried to understand the situation. It seemed that in his attempt to drain Faust of her power the incomplete spell ended up becoming something more akin to a contract spell that bounded Faust to him, she was now his servant, at least that was the most likely possibility since he couldn't think of any other reason. After this observation, Alex read the scroll that his future self sent to him.
“Bring me a pair of blank scrolls and a quill immediately,” said Alex to Bray.
“Right away my lord,” said Bray as he went to get the needed items and when he returned he presented the items to his lord.
Using his right arm Alex rewrote everything he read in the letter on one scroll and the instructions on the other. After that, he used Grogar's knowledge of time magic to open a small portal before tossing the two scrolls in the portal, then closed it.
“Now that I sent the scroll to your past self, tell me what is the state of my empire,” said Alex taking his time looking at his new dark blue-furred arms.
“After your death, your army broke up into many factions and each one took control of a section of land in Tambelon. They still follow the rules and laws you put in place and breaking them means facing the appropriated punishment,” said Bray before he paused to breathe. After that he continued, “Around a century or two later Faust woke up, just like it was written in the scroll and we thought that she would be an enemy at first, but she said that from that moment on she would be your servant and would wait for your awakening."
“Is that so?” asked Alex as he looked at Faust, who just smiled at her lord.
“What happened to the prisoners of war?” asked Alex.
“They became slaves, your laws were very clear when it comes to slavery, so all of them became part of the society in Tambelon and their descendants still serve your majesty to this day,” said Bray.
“Good to know that my domain is in good condition. Who is in charge right now?” asked Alex.
“Most of the land is under the rule of a council but there are many independent territories ruled by different groups/clans that would only submit to your authority,” said Bray.
“We shall continue this discussion tomorrow, right now I need to rest and heal,” said Alex getting up with difficulty only to be supported by Faust.
While Faust guided Alex to Grogar’s –and now his– room, the girls that were massaging his body bowed and returned to their normal routine, except one who noticed a bag near the throne, the young gryphoness inspected its content and decided it was best to deliver it to her lord. As they arrived he let his tired body lay on the bed and relax.
“Are you really Faust?” asked Alex after seeing the memories of Grogar.
“Maybe I am Faust after completely submitting to your will or maybe an echo of the true Faust that is no longer in this body, in the end, it doesn’t matter. What matters to me is only the will of my master, your will,” said Faust as she was sitting on the edge of the bed caressing Grogar’s horns.
“Very well,” said Grogar closing his eyes.
“Sleep well, master,” said Faust.
Dream
Alex found himself sitting on a chair with a small table before him and Grogar also sitting in a chair, looking around he saw that they were in a small cafe.
“Do you like it, it's from your memories, I particularly like this ‘coffee’,” said Grogar.
“I thought you said you are just an echo,” said Alex to his twin, appearance-wise.
“And I am, you are Grogar now since you have his memories, knowledge and power, I am just a facet of you. Think of me as an assistant that helps to keep your mind in order,” explained the echo before taking a sip of his coffee before adding, “if you equate your mind to a library I’m the librarian and you are the owner.”
“So should I consider myself Grogar now? Then what do I call you?” asked Alex, or better yet the New Grogar.
“Just call me Echo,” said Echo.
“I might know why you can’t die,” said Grogar.
“I already know, remember I am part of you, you are literally talking to yourself,” said Echo.
“Still, it helps me organize my mind, I still can’t believe that you essentially became a Daedric Prince, your soul, now mine, is so connected with Tambelon that as long one exists so will the other,” said Grogar.
“So the only way for the old version of Grogar to move on was to pass the mantle of Lord of Tambelon to another and the only way to kill you completely is to destroy your soul and the dimension of Tambelon at the same time, right?” said Echo, completing Grogar’s line of thought.
“Well, we better rest, tomorrow is a new day,” said Grogar.
2. Awakening in a brave new world.
When Grogar woke up he felt something soft pressing against his side and something round and soft in his right hand, so he lightly squeezed what was on his right hand and was rewarded with a moan. He opened his eyes and looked down and saw Faust resting her head on his chest, her soft breasts pressing against his right side, she was wearing a purple see-through nightgown, only a nightgown and nothing else, while his hand was right over her cutie mark.
As Grogar looked at Faust the memories of a smiling filly playing in a field of flowers while he observed her flashed in the forefront of his mind, also in that memory beside him was another alicorn mare. She had the same cream-colored coat and blue eyes as Faust, but she had a short blonde mane instead of long red one. That was Faust’s mother, Lady Bonnie.
After Grogar saw that memory he lifted his right hand from Faust's cheek and used it to move a strand of her mane that was over her eyes, eyes that opened soon after.
“Good morning master,” said Faust as she looked at him with those baby blue eyes before she yawned, it was cute in Grogar's opinion.
“What are you doing?” asked Grogar just out of curiosity.
“Just warming my master at night,” said Faust as she laid her head on his chest again, of course being careful with her horn.
“C’mon, it’s time to wake up,” said Grogar gently.
“Do I have to?” said Faust like a child that didn't want to get out of bed.
“Do you want me to wake you like I did when you were late for your lessons?” said Grogar in a teasing tone.
*Sigh*”Ok,” said Faust as she sat up on the edge of the bed.
Grogar did the same before he got up and started to stretch his arms and legs, it seems his body had recovered, not completely but enough for him to move normally. While he was doing his morning exercises Faust just sat on the bed observing her lord. Soon the Lord of Tambelon finished his exercises and it became clear that he only needed time for him to recover his magic. Soon after that, he walked to the windows he, opened the curtains, opened the doors made of glass and walked out of the room onto the balcony to see the city.
Tambelon was a beautiful city that appeared to be made of stone and metal but somehow managed to mix medieval and modern styles, all of this beauty shined under the light of the first of the twin suns on the sky rising from the south.
“Beautiful isn’t it? How the city grew in your absence, my lord,” said Faust as she hugged him from behind pressing her breasts on his back and rested her head on his shoulder as she gazed at the city with him.
“Indeed it is, by the way, was there any strange item near me when I woke up?” asked Grogar as he remembered the items he was Displaced with.
“Yes, there was a bag beside your throne with many items, it is on the desk in the room,” said Faust as she let go of Grogar.
The Emperor walked back inside and spotted the bag on a desk on the opposite side of the room, with the entrance at his right and the bed at his left. Then he went to the desk, opened the bag and put all the items on the table. Faust just sat on the bed and looked at her lord as he organized the items on the table before he picked the metal cube.
“Activate,” said Grogar and the cube started to glow.
*ping*
The Mother Box made a simple sound but he somehow understood what she was saying, yes the Mother Box was a sentient being with a female personality.
“Hello to you too, can you scan the books?” asked Grogar.
*ping*
“Good. Do it,” said Grogar.
The MB floated from his hand to above the table, she started to emit a beam of light over the books before she stopped.
*ping*
“Thank you, you can rest to assimilate the knowledge and also could you map the ‘surroundings’ of this part of the multiverse?” said Grogar to the MB. Before MB’s lines stopped glowing a small chain grew from one of her corners, considering that she was the size of a sugar cube, to him in his new size, now she looked like a keychain with a hook.
Grogar left MB on the table, then picked the Key of the Gate of Babylon and the All Black Necrosword, he felt them bond with him. He felt them invade his mind in search of something, whatever they found caused both them to approve of him and disappeared into his new dimensional vault.
With that done Grogar decided to take a bath. So Faust led him through a door near the corner of the room into a luxurious bathhouse with a small private pool filled with crystal clear water, after that she stood near the edge and motioned for the pool. Unceremoniously he took off his pants, the only piece of clothing on his body and the only piece that resisted the ravages of time. The only reason that it resisted this long was the runes and glyphs etched onto it.
Grogar felt the refreshing water against his body as he sat near the edge inside the pool with the water just at his shoulders and his back against the wall, nothing better than a refreshing bath to start a new day.
“Is the temperature of the water of your liking, master?” asked Faust just outside of the pool.
“Yes,” said Grogar as he relaxed on the shallow pool with the water level just below his neck, then he lifted one of his arms above the water and motioned for Faust to join him.
After a little more insistence from Grogar Faust used her magic to teleport her nightgown back to her room before she joined Grogar and teleported a small tray with what they need for this bath.
“Do you wish for me to call more servants to wash your body, my lord?” asked Faust as she knelt beside her lord in the pool, completely exposing herself to Grogar.
“Maybe another day. We have to speak with the Regent Council later today,” said Grogar as he closed his eyes, Faust nodded and proceeded to bath herself while Grogar did same.
Few minutes later
Faust was using her magic to hold a mirror in front of her while she brushed her mane, also she occasionally looked at Grogar who was now with a new pair of black pants. The alicorn felt power radiated from her master, he was almost at the level when he defeated her. Normally mortals couldn't feel the way his power intertwine with the very fabric of reality in this dimension, but she could feel his power permeating the entire world. The only ones that would be able to feel something were the mortals with a powerful connection to nature and users of magic that were powerful and skilled enough to detect the shift in the world’s energy.
“Much better, don’t you agree?” asked Grogar looking at Faust, he felt reinvigorated.
“Indeed, my lord,” said Faust as a chromatic aura appeared on her horn and in a flash of light she was wearing a black greek dress similar to the one from yesterday, then she added and asked, “It’s almost time for breakfast, after that we can meet the council, are these suggestions of your liking my lord?”
“Yes, they are,” said Grogar.
“I look forward to getting to know my new lord,” said Faust as she placed one hand over her heart and bowed.
“You speak as if I’m not the same Grogar you knew,” said Grogar.
“Of course you are not, you are his new incarnation, the one that inherited his power and memories when you took his mantle and name, so you are Grogar, you are still my lord and master,” said Faust as she kept her stance of respect and submission.
“So, you know,” said Grogar simply.
“Yes, I can feel your soul and it’s fundamentally different from the original Grogar but there is no functional difference between you and him,” said Faust.
“Indeed,” said Grogar as he walked out of the room.
Once out of the room he let Faust guide him to the room where breakfast would be served. In there was a group of maids of different species waiting to serve him.
“Good morning, Lord Grogar,” said the maids while they bowed.
“Good morning,” said Grogar looking at the maids, one of the reasons he liked the villains more than the heroes, they always get the best followers.
Grogar sat at the head of the table he and suggested the maids to “surprise him”. In the end, they brought a feast and he ate almost everything since Grogar became the demiurge of Tambelon didn’t require food or drink but eating helped him recover faster as did sleeping, plus he could do it just for the pleasure.
The way Grogar ate a feast almost by himself reminded him of the anime Toriko was the character could eat outrageous amounts of food even by Shonen standards. But of course, he ate in a manner befitting of his status as Emperor and not like some shameless glutton. The food helped him to recover a little bit more of his magic since it was converted into energy almost immediately, it might take a while for him to be at full power.
*ping*
The Emperor picked the Mother Box and put her on the table. Then he noticed that now she had a glowing circle on each facet with constantly shifting between colors and the details on each facet around the circle were different.
“Leave us,” said Grogar to the maids and they did so by leaving Grogar alone with Faust.
“So how do you feel? Also, could you speak normally? I think what you are about to tell is something Faust should hear,” said Grogar.
“As you wish my lord, I took the liberty of absorbing the objects that were floating just outside of the barrier of our local dimensional cluster, the ones called Tokens,” said MB in a female voice.
“Good, you can deactivate yourself if you want, I will call you when I need something,” said Grogar before he affixed the MB on his belt again and looked at Faust.
“As you heard there is a lot going on outside of the barrier of our universal cluster, so be aware of any interdimensional visitors in the future,” said Grogar.
“Yes master,” said Faust.
“Before we meet the council, there something I want to tell you. Faust, you have been a good servant so I will reward you, ask me anything you want and I will do it for you so long it doesn’t prove to be a problem in the future,” said Grogar.
“I have one wish, but I don’t know if you will approve,” said Faust.
“What is it?” asked Grogar while Faust had an apprehensive look on her face, conflicted since she didn't want to upset her master and tell him her desire, but she had that wish since she was a small filly without a home.
“Could you bring back my mother?” asked Faust and waited for her master’s anger, but instead of preparing a punishment for her he had a look of intrigue and curiosity.
“I will think about this carefully, you will have your answer at the end of the day,” said Grogar as he got up.
Faust also got up in order to guide him through the castle to the Council’s chambers, on the way Grogar summoned the Necrosword and let it sink into his hand, then that he created a cloak of shadow and darkness, he just left his head without the hood.
By the time they reached the Council’s chambers Grogar could hear voices on the other side, then he opened the double door and he entered followed by Faust, which caused the owners of the voices to stop talking and bow to him.
“Lord Grogar, it seems the rumors of your return are true,” said a topless 15ft tall male anthro red dragon wearing armored pants and without shoes.
“Indeed. I assume you all are the Regent Council, the ones responsible for keeping things mostly under control,” said Grogar as he used his magic to create a throne for himself on the head of the elliptical table with half of the council on each side while Faust stood by his right side.
“Indeed we are, Your Majesty,” said a female gryphon that was half white tiger and half snowy owl who appeared young, but she had a lot of magic so maybe she was older than she appeared and he could see leather armor beneath her brown cloak.
“So what is the situation of my garden?” asked Grogar as he used Gilgamesh from Fate as an inspiration, he was the ruler of a world after all.
“Garden?” asked an old male minotaur with gray fur and mane but still muscular and healthy. He wore a greek like armor without a helmet.
“Yes, this world is my garden and it flourishes because I allow it. Everything and everyone that lives here belongs to me,” said Grogar doing his best impression of Gilgamesh.
“And they call my kind greed,” said the dragon to himself.
“And no matter what they fight over because if it's in this world than it’s mine,” said Grogar after he heard the dragon's comment.
“Even so, we need to announce to the empire that its true ruler has returned,” said a pony mare with an orange mane and gray coat wearing a white greek dress but the most surprising fact about her was that she was an alicorn.
“And you are?” asked Grogar.
“I’m Gray Forest, once a student of Lady Faust,” said Gray Forest as she bowed her head in respect.
“Which reminds me, I wish to know the names of the ones that kept some semblance of order in my garden while I was on my great journey,” said Grogar.
“I’m Hard Rime,” said the gryphoness.
“I’m Minos,” said the old minotaur.
“I’m Ixen Jeski,” said the dragon.
“I’m Kyron,” said a centaur similar to Tirek but with light blue and white fur instead of red and black.
“I’m Bara gra-Urag from the Razorback clan,” said a female trogg, she was a 7 ft tall anthro boar woman with a muscular and voluptuous body that wore leather armor.
“I’m Lexi from the Mountain Carver clan,” said a female diamond dog that had a slender body with bigger paws, she wore a yellow jacket and a spiked collar with a dog tag.
“I’m Queen Phyllia,” said a 10ft tall changeling queen with a brown mane, brown slitted eyes and was wearing a green blouse with a floral long skirt.
After the introductions Grogar learned about the current state of his empire, all the laws he made when he let his forces live here were still in place, in fact, he made them integral part of this dimension so if any of his laws were broken the dimension itself will give the appropriate punishment, this freed Tambelon from the need of prisons, mostly.
Grogar learned of the different groups, clans and species throughout the land as well as their history and culture, apparently, millennia of adaptation and magic helped different species to appear, some branching out of an already existing species, either through evolution or hybridization, and others created as result of some magical experiment.
Old Grogar took in not only many cults that worshiped him but also those that were rejected by their societies for being different. He did that because he came from a time where differences didn't matter since all suffered under the gods of yore. That and the fact that they had so much unappreciated potential.
And it seemed that this action resulted in not only the Tambelonian version of many species having far greater diversity than the Mundusian counterpart but also in the growth of species that were probably extinct on Mundus by now, as many of them were dying off because of conflicts with another species in one form or another when they were recruited.
One such example was the Tambelonian gryphons that were a combination of any bird and any feliform or caniform unlike their Mundusian counterparts that were just a combination of an eagle and a lion, not only that but they develop into different subspecies and new species as well, the same applied to the sphinxes, chimeras, gargoyle and manticores, all species that were closely related to the gryphons. Now they have the normal or classic gryphon, opinicus gryphon, axex gryphon, keythong gryphon, hieracosphinx, hippogryph, reverse gryphon or anzu, criosphinxes, hesiodic sphinx, lamassu, pygmy gryphon, semargl and simurgh.
Many non-sentient magical species, many of which were on the verge of sentience evolved and created their own culture in the millennia that passed, unlike their Mundusian counterparts who never evolved past that animal phase, they were smarter than average animals but were just animals nonetheless. The best example was the manticores.
Additionally, Old Grogar didn’t let any species control the weather, they could lessen its impact but not control it, as a result even species like the breezies became stronger and unlike their equestrian counterparts they use many forms of magic instead of just “pollen magic”. That also meant that they had divergent evolutions.
It was just sad to see that the breezies of Mundus became so fragile that even a strong breeze or a leaf was a great danger to them. They were not this weak on Old Grogar's time since they had to be strong enough to survive in the world instead of relying on the environment controlled by ponies, which was the reason why equestrian breezies were the fragile beings that they were today.
At this point “breezies” was a misnomer, nowadays they were known as “fairy ponies” and they could be classified by the magic they use. Interestingly they were closely related to the changelings, in fact, changelings fall in the same category, they could be considered “normal sized fairy ponies” or flutter ponies that were corrupted by dark magic and became more insect-like.
Other species like dragons, chimeras, gargoyles, nagas, merfolk and few others evolved and adapted further thanks to the magic of Tambelon. Species like ponies, zebras, giraffes, deer, caribous, minotaurs, goats, arimaspis and few others stayed mostly the same throughout their millennia in Tambelon, but they acquired some extra features that were very subtle while others were very pronounced, again through either adaptation, magic or hybridization.
And lastly, many normal animals that came to Tambelon from Mundus also developed sentience –many but not all of them–, again through either adaptation, magic or hybridization that was either by design or accident. That was the origin of what was now known as beast folk, beings that evolved from those beasts. There were folks of canine, feline, avian, rodent, lagomorph and lizard variety.
Interestingly alicorns and draconequus reappeared on Tambelon, but they were not like the Old Gods, they were just long-lived and powerful mortals, more in line with a demigod and for them to become a “complete god” they have to undergo a “second ascension” otherwise they remain mortal.
In the end, Grogar opted to visit the major cities to announce his return personally and with that, the council meeting ended, so he left the chambers. He went to the throne room to make some preparations.
As Grogar sat on the throne with Faust standing by his right he opened a ‘window’ in the air, it was like a screen but the edges were made of green and red smoke like energy, to see the Equestria that has the strongest connection to Tambelon, besides he needed to know where in the timeline he was.
On the window he saw the city of Canterlot, it looked just like in the show but with anthro ponies going about their normal routine in this afternoon, when he moved the window to the castle he saw Celestia in her room as she read some documents and heard a gasp.
Turning his head he saw Faust with her hands covering her mouth as tears ran down her face.
“Why do you cry Faust?” asked Grogar because he didn't know what caused such a reaction.
“I’m sorry my lord but it has been so long since I last saw her, my little filly has grown into such a beautiful mare…,” trailed off Faust as she continued to cry. Grogar waited for her to calm down, after she composed herself she spoke, “Sorry that you had to see me like this.”
Using his right hand he lifted her chin slightly with the tip of his index finger.
“Be proud of this feeling it means that you care about her, it means you are her mother, there is no need to apologize,” said Grogar because he knew the importance of family, both from his life as a human and as Old Grogar.
“Thank you, my lord,” said Faust quietly but loud enough for Grogar to hear.
Turning his attention back to the screen and with a swiping motion six smaller windows appear, three on each side, showing six familiar ponies.
On the upper left he saw Fluttershy giving food to Angel, she was a 5ft 7in tall pegasus pony mare that had a butter yellow coat, a light pink mane and tail both slightly longer than the average pony and teal eyes, she was wearing a green sweater, pink pants and was without shoes in her home.
On the middle left he saw Applejack kicking some apple tree on her farm, she was a 5ft 9in earth pony mare that had a light orange coat and a blonde mane tied with a red ribbon near its end, a similar ribbon of the same color at the near end of her tail, she has forest green eyes and was wearing a light brown Stetson hat on her head, loose overalls, a flannel shirt and simple horseshoes.
On the lower left he saw Rarity looking at a paper with a design she had yet to finish on her desk, she was an elegant 5ft 7in unicorn mare with marshmallow white coat, azure eyes and well kept and stylised purple mane and tail in vertical curls who was wearing a simple blue blouse and a light blue skirt.
On the upper right side he saw Rainbow Dash practicing her maneuvers, an athletic 5ft 5in pegasus mare light blue coat and a rainbow-colored unkempt mane and tail, which gave her a more wild and careless look, and magenta eyes, was wearing a black sports bra, shorts, fingerless gloves, bracers on her elbows and knees, and lastly simple horseshoes.
On the middle right he saw that Pinkie Pie was making cake only to stop and look around, Grogar shifted the energy of the scrying spell and she just shrugged and got back to her cake. It seems she has some form of sensitivity to magic around her but he could bypass that with the correct form of energy, she was 5ft 6in earth pony that had a pink coat and darker but still pink cotton candy like mane/tail and light blue eyes, she was wearing a white t-shirt with many splashes of color and yellow pants that were covered by her apron.
But the most telling was the window on the bottom right, the one observing Twilight Sparkle, a 5ft 5in unicorn mare that had a violet coat, purple eyes, her mane and tail were dark blue with a purple and a pink streaks, she was wearing a simple blue t-shirt and skirt with stars on it while she read a book on her old tower in the castle and Spike was dusting some of the shelves, meaning he was in pre-season 1, before Nightmare Moon’s return.
“My lord, why are you spying on those young mares? If you want a mare then you just have to ask either me or one of the servants, besides they can barely be considered adults, unless… you prefer mares that young,” said Faust, the last part rather coyly.
“No Faust, they have an important role to play in the future, I’m just trying to find where on the timeline this Equestria is,” said Grogar.
“You can predict the future?” asked Faust.
“More like calculate, I could use the same spell to see other timelines but this Equestria is the ‘closest’ to Tambelon and the one where we came from, essentially the Mundus 0 or Mundus Prime of our cluster in this region of the megaverse,” said Grogar.
“I see,” said Faust.
Grogar concentrated on a particular object and opened another window but this on the past of the Equestria 0, there he saw a unicorn mage doing some ritual and in the center of the magic circle was a familiar red stone.
“Yes! Soon enough I will have the power to overthrow that foolish mare, soon Celestia will learn her place, on her knees before me,” said the mage causing Faust to growl at that, throne who just threatened her daughter.
“Who is this fool my lord?” asked Faust.
“He is unimportant, what is important is the item he created, or should I say, he is creating,” said Grogar as he let a black smoke come out of his right hand, that smoke moved through the window and into the stone.
“And what item is this?” asked Faust, only for Grogar to point to the window.
When the ritual finished the mage picked the gem and placed it on a black necklace with the image of a unicorn on the top and wings on both sides.
“Finally the amulet that will allow me to rival an alicorn,” said the mage in a tired tone.
“The Alicorn Amulet, a fitting name don’t you think so master?” asked a voice coming from the door on the dark chamber as it was opened.
“Oh it’s just you, my apprentice, come we must test this,” said the mage as Grogar closed the window.
“Why the amulet is so important my lord?” asked Faust.
“It’s not the amulet it’s the trap I placed on it, I will place a few more traps on different locations at different times for later use,” said Grogar.
“I see,” said Faust before she asked, “What was the fate of that fool?”
“He died, stabbed in the back by his apprentice, who wanted the power for himself, this cycle continued until the amulet ended up in a store for antiquities,” said Grogar as he opened another window to show the amulet in a display in a shady shop, after that he closed that window.
Faust was confused by this but her lord probably has some plan that will be set in motion later.
Grogar closed the six smaller windows as well and moved the main one to show a familiar three-headed dog guarding a gate that led to seemingly nowhere, but he knew better.
“Is there any place on Tambelon that has a gate like this?” asked Grogar to Faust while he pointed at the gate, he could search for himself but it would be easier and faster if Faust knew about.
“Yes it appeared in a desert island a few miles west of the continent, the mages placed a barrier around it because we didn’t know where it led. All we knew was that the design was similar to the gate you built to connect to Equestria in the past,” said Faust.
Grogar opened many windows showing Luna, Celestia and many mages doing some kind of research, all of them seemed to be from different points in time.
“Apparently your daughters created that portal based on the pieces of my original portal, they hoped it would lead to a barren dimension that they could use as a prison. They never realized that they reestablished a connection to Tambelon, so they name this prison Tartarus and placed many prisoners there,” said Grogar.
“That would explain the appearance of the individuals that now live on that island, we kept the barrier up and never interacted with them,” said Faust before she added, “Also of special note on that place is a centaur that can steal magic from others.”
“I know about him, just keep the barrier up, I’m not interested in the prisoners, for now,” said Grogar as he closed all the windows except the main one.
“I shall inform the main guild of mages of this development,” said Faust as she summons a scroll and a quill.
While she wrote without looking using her telekinesis Grogar moved the window to show Cadence spending time with Shining Armor, not interested he moved it again to show Starlight on her village, again not interested he moved the screen to show Chrysalis as she directed her drones.
“Those Changelings are almost dying of starvation, what use they could have my lord?” asked Faust as she looked at one of the few Hives left on Mundus.
“They too have a role to play and besides more willing soldiers for my army,” said Grogar.
Throughout the day they checked different locations on Mundus, also took the time to evaluate the situation of Mundus' many kingdoms and the species that lived there.
Most of what Grogar saw he already knew but he wanted to be sure, Grogar also discovered that they had the Summer Sun Celebration recently, so he has at least a year until the return of Nightmare Moon, plenty of time for him to learn about his new empire. Then he lightly tapped the Mother Box and mentally requested the opening of two Boom Tubes.
*ping**boom*
The Mother Box opened two portals in front of Grogar just at the base of his throne and waited. It wasn’t long before smoke started to come out of the one on the right while from the one on the left a cold mist came out, after that two equine shapes came out of the portals one made of clouds and mist while the other was made of smoke and shadow, a windigo and a umbrum. They looked like their respective elements condensed into anthropomorphic shapes.
The windigo was the first to see Grogar and kneel just after that.
“Father,” said a female voice as she lowered her head before continuing, “It’s an honor to see you again.”
The umbrum leaned its upper body forward in a show of respect before saying in a female voice, “Lord Grogar.”
“The windigo I can understand, but why are you showing me respect, I expected you to resist,” said Grogar as he leaned his head on his right hand while his right elbow rested on the armchair.
“We umbrums owe our existence to you, not unlike the windigos even if in our case it was unintentional,” said the umbrum still in the same position.
“Now I’m curious,” said Grogar.
“I’m as well,” said Faust as she was noticed for the first time by the visitors.
They almost attacked her but they felt Grogar magic in her so they assumed he was somehow controlling her.
“The umbrums were born from the negative energies left behind by those that died in the Great Cataclysm, an event that wouldn’t come to pass had you not killed the gods of the old world,” said the umbrum.
“That’s a fascinating story but that’s not the reason I summoned you two here. I have a proposition for you, join my army, I will give your species new bodies and I allow you to live here in my world,” said Grogar.
“Of course father, all of your sons and daughters will rejoice that we can serve you again, we thought you abandoned us after we failed to freeze the three pony tribes,” said the windigo with great relief.
“I'll be honest with you, your kind served their purpose, the fact that you evolved pass that is what surprises me. You didn’t fail your mission, you evolved past it and now you can join my followers here on Tambelon,” said Grogar.
“Thank you father,” said the windigo with conviction and gratitude.
“And what about you?” asked Grogar looking at the umbrum.
“I would like to wait and see how the infiltrator that we send to the Crystal Empire will fare before answering,” said the umbrum.
“You mean the foal you disguised as a unicorn, he will fail, or better yet he already failed his mission,” said Grogar as he chuckled.
“What?! How is that possible?” asked the umbrum alarmed at this news.
Instead of answering Grogar opened many windows showing the defeat of a certain unicorn umbrum by the two sisters.
“I pulled both of you from the past, a week before this battle. As far as Equestria’s history is concerned, this was the last sighting of a umbrum before they vanished. The ones that weren't sealed that is,” said Grogar.
“So we are destined to be wiped out,” said the umbrum not even trying to hide her frustration.
“I said 'the last sighting of a umbrum before they vanished’, it was never said how or to where,” said Grogar.
“So we vanished because we are destined to be here,” said the umbrum as she looked at the one she owed her existence to, time to repay the debt. So she answered, “We accept your offer Lord Grogar.”
“Good, take these rune stones,” said Grogar giving a small stone with a rune carved in it that he materialized to each one of the two before he continued, “Gather all those that want to come here. But be warned once you pass through the portal you all will have bodies of flesh and bone to better serve me and to live in Tambelon. If you don’t want that to happen they simply remain in Mundus and wait for your death. You have a week to decide. The choice is yours.”
As soon as Grogar finished his speech tendrils of energy came out of the portals and pulled the windigo and the umbrum back in before closing.
“Now we wait,” said Grogar.
Hours later
The suns of Tambelon were setting giving way to multiple moons and auroras.
Grogar and Faust spend the day seeing multiple turning points in Equestria’s history, he even saw other timelines to compare. After that they walked into a ritual chamber, a circular room with a circle carved in the floor, this room was located in the basement of the castle.
“If the power of your mother was used by me, then I can find her soul and revive her,” explained Grogar to Faust.
“And if you didn't use her power?” asked Faust.
“Then her soul still on Mundus. The chances of her soul being whole by now are almost zero,” said Grogar and Faust nodded accepting such possibility, she was just happy that he was willing to try.
Grogar used his magic to find a specific soul and after almost half an hour searching in every corner, every layer of Tambelon he couldn't find Lady Bonnie.
“She is not on Tambelon,” said Grogar and as Faust was about to give up he opened a window to Mundus again and reassumed his search.
They don't know how long it took but Grogar searched nearly the whole globe and didn't find her soul.
“I found her. It seems her soul managed to survive until the modern day,” said Grogar to Faust just as she lost all hope of seeing her mother again.
“Where?” asked Faust with renewed hope.
Grogar moved to the side to show her the window, it showed a familiar crystal structure in a familiar cave in a familiar forest not far from Canterlot.
It showed the Tree of Harmony.
Author's Note
Grogar knows about other Displaced but doesn't want to deal with them for now, but the tokens are stored inside the Mother Box and she can open Boom Tubes to other universes and timelines, here is how it looked:
Also, check out the artist that made a complete 3D model of the Mother Box on the picture, HERE .
Many of the species listed on this chapter are from actual mythology or from other fantasy settings, I just removed/replaced the human features from them.here .shepherd0821 's other artworks.
3. Departure from the city where it begun.
Morning of the next day
Yesterday Grogar explained to Faust what the Tree of Harmony as well as the Elements of Harmony were and if his theory was right they wouldn't be able to revive Lady Bonnie, for now, so they would have to wait. Today he had breakfast much like yesterday, later he was informed that at least one member of the council wished to accompany him on one of his visits to different locations on Tambelon and he agreed not seeing a problem.
Grogar and Faust were prepared to leave the capital, so they were on the city square because Grogar wanted to see the city before leaving and now they were waiting for the one that will be accompanying them. Grogar was wearing his black pants and the cloak of shadows over himself while Faust was wearing dark green long pants, a light blue long-sleeved shirt and boots made for her hooves, clothes much more suited for traveling.
As they waited Grogar decided to tell stories about the many worlds he knew, both the ones that he knew as fiction as a human and the ones that Old Grogar visited in his search. That naturally attracted the attention of many children on the park so now he was telling them about one of his favorites shounen manga Toriko.
“...then found a garden above the clouds with many giant ingredients,” said Grogar to the children that gather around him while he sat on the grass.
“Wow…” was the collective answer as they heard his stories.
It wasn't long after that the third member of their party arrived, it was Hard Rime the white gryphoness and she was accompanied by a tall anthro pony like being and a small anthro rabbit like being.
The pony like being was female, she was 6ft 5ft tall, she had light blue fur, orange mane and tail, green eyes, her arms ended in a 5 finger hand with a claw in the end of each finger, from her hand to her elbow the arm was covered in scales before fading into blue fur a shade darker, the same applied to her saurian legs with three talons on the front, her legs had a digitigrade configuration, she had a muscular but modest figure, she was wearing light armor of brown leather with runes and she also carried a sword on her left hip attached to her belt. She was a qilin, more specific a tianma, a type of qilin with earth pony and dragon heritage, noted by the absence of horns and wings of any type.
The small rabbit had child-like proportions, because of that and the thick robes it was difficult to tell if it was male or female, only the plantigrade feet that were without shoes, cute rabbit-like face and long ears covered in brown fur were visible as well as its purple eyes. It was a beast folk of the rabbit variety but Grogar couldn't tell the species because of the robe.
“I apologize for the delay My Emperor,” said Rime as she bowed.
“It's of no consequence,” said Grogar as he got up. He was in no hurry to finish this particular mission.
“And who would be these two?” asked Faust as she stood beside Grogar.
“These are our guides. The qilin is from the Warriors' Guild, her name is Agate and the yuètù is from the Mages’ Guild, his name is Cheng,” said Rime introducing the new party members.
“It’s an honor to meet you, My Emperor,” said Cheng and Agate, both of them had strong but youthful voices as bowed.
“Very well, now all that is left is to chose which of the three major cities we are going to visit first. I want to make sure news of my return spread from there, besides I want to see how my garden has flourished,” said Grogar explaining the purpose of this trip. Ironically those cities are named Zerzura, Agartha and Atlantis, maybe this was one of those strange coincidences in the multiverse since it was infinite.
Zerzura was a city that floated above the peak of a mountain and was inhabited mostly by flyers and mages. Agartha was a city located below the surface near a volcano and was inhabited by beings that had a deep connection to the earth. And Atlantis was unsurprisingly an underwater city located a few miles off of the coast of the continent and was the hub for many aquatic races.
Those were by no means the only cities outside of Tambelon, they were just the biggest and most important outside of the capital. Besides Grogar, both Old and New never had an opportunity to see those cities since they were built after his death.
“Yes sir,” responded the two guides that were hired by Rime.
“Sorry children, but it's time for us to go,” said Grogar to the children.
“Aw,” responded the children.
Grogar then left with Faust, Rime, Cheng and Agate. While walking through the Capital's market Grogar wondered which city they should visit first. They passed through the section where slaves were being sold, as a human he knew that slavery was morally wrong, by most culture standards anyway, but now as Grogar he simply didn't care about his old cultural norms. In the end, it didn't make a difference, slave or not, all of them lived under his rule.
Of note was the fact that some slaves were quadrupeds, the ability to shift between a mostly quadruped form and a biped form was originally from the dragons, but over the years many mages managed to give this ability to slaves for them to serve as beasts of burden and mounts. These days this ability was very widespread and helped to shape much of the diversity of Tambelon's cultures.
“Which of the Three Great Cities we should visit first?” asked Grogar to the other party members.
“It makes no difference to me. I never went to any of them before,” said Faust not long after. It was actually sad if you think about it, she spent centuries in this part of the continent and never ventured further as she waited for Grogar to wake up.
“I wouldn't mind visiting my family on the way to either Zerzura or Agartha in the east,” said Cheng referring to the fact that the Capital is located in the center of the Western half of the continent while the two cities mentioned were on the north and south parts of the eastern half.
“Agreed with you, besides my family lives on Zerzura, so that would be my first choice,” said Rime before she and the rest of the group looked at Agate, the only one that didn't express her opinion yet.
“Um, well it doesn't matter which we go first,” said Agate nervously.
“So Zerzura then,” said Grogar as he directed the group to the East gate.
When they arrived at the East gate of the city, the guards posted on each side of the exit saluted. The one on the right was a female brown diamond dog with armor and the one of the left was a male changeling. The party kept walking past the exit and they saw farms and a bit of grassland. So they kept walking on the road until they reached a crossroad that was at the limits of the Capital.
“From here on out it will be many days of walking until we reach Zerzura, my Emperor,” said Rime.
“My home village is on the way we should reach it before entering the mountain range where Zerzura is located,” said Cheng as he lifted his hands, showing that he was wearing gloves over his four fingers, and they glowed yellow form a moment.
The glow was a quick spell that made a map appear in his hands. On the map was depicted the capital and the surrounding region. Cheng showed the map to the other as he pointed to the crossroad they just passed through.
“My village is right here,” said as Cheng as pointed to a small mark on the edge of the map.
“Your village is quite a distance from the Capital, Sir Cheng,” commented Faust as she looked at the map.
“Lady Faust, there is no need to call me Sir, I’m but a simple mage. I just came to the Capital and joined Mages’ Guild to finish my studies,” said Cheng to Faust.
“Don't sell yourself short, by the robes you wear you are quite an accomplished mage. This must be the reason Lady Rime hired you for this mission,” said Faust.
“I’m unworthy of your praise, Lady Faust. Besides Rime is a friend, she came asking for a favor and I couldn't refuse the chance to help our Emperor,” said Cheng as he stored the map back in the storage rune on his gloves.
“There is no need be so formal with me during the travel, you may call me just Faust,” said Faust to Cheng but made sure to be heard by the others.
After that Faust, Rime and Cheng kept chatting while they travel, Agate, on the other hand, remained in silence as she followed Grogar. She would occasionally glance at him, she grew up hearing the legends about His Imperial Majesty, about how he created Tambelon and gave their ancestors a place where they could live without fear of being hunted or rejected by the main species on Mundus.
Agate was inspired to be a warrior by hearing the tales of the dragons that fought against the last alicorn of the Old World, Faust the goddess that was defeated and bound to His Majesty's services. She remembered hearing that it took ten dragons to hold her on one occasion and her great-great-grandfather was part of that battle. She didn't hate Faust for that, in fact, she respected the goddess for her strength. The tale of the final battle was passed through the generations especially to her family because her great-great-grandfather was one of the witnesses of the event.
To Agate Faust was an inspiration, a warrior goddess, but as Grogar the one who defeated her was the ultimate symbol of power. Now she was in his presence and she didn't know what to say, but regardless of her nervousness she still had a mission to accomplish.
“Is something wrong? You have been very quiet since we left the Capital,” asked Grogar as he looked at the blue qilin, who was staring at him for a while now.
“No, nothing is wrong my lord, it’s just…” started Agate but she trailed off feeling embarrassed that her Emperor caught her staring at him, she thanked the fact that her dark fur hid her blush from Lord Grogar, who waited patiently as Agate fumbled for the right words, which only embarrassed her further. Eventually, she just relented and said shyly, “I kinda had a crush on you growing up.”
Grogar just raised an eyebrow but didn't comment as he simply continued to walk in silence. The silence was somewhat awkward but he just didn't know what to say in this situation so he remained in silence.
“Don't worry dear, he isn't mad at you,” said Faust as she reassured the qilin.
Agate might he a capable warrior and had no problem in dealing with a client but that was the first time she was in the presence of both of her idols so she just didn't know how to proceed. So she accepted the goddess’ words and decided to focus on her mission for now.
The silence remained until the twin suns started to set and the moons started to appear.
“We better set up camp for the night,” suggested Cheng as he felt tired from walking all day.
Rime and Agate weren't as tired because of their extensive combat training plus their own reserves of magic that were quite impressive. Faust and Grogar, on the other hand, didn't felt any different at all, they could walk for weeks before starting to feel tired and sometimes they forget the difference between mortal and gods after so long.
“Very well,” said Grogar because he wasn't in a hurry and it has been ages since he had the opportunity to camp with others.
The group found a clearing not far from the road, where they set up camp. Cheng summoned the camping supplies he was carrying from one of the runes on his gloves while Rime and Agate were making a campfire with a rune stone in the center that would burst into flames. Once the campfire was ready Grogar did a simple fire spell to light the campfire.
After that Faust insisted on cooking while Rime, Agate and Cheng said she didn't need to do this, but Faust said that she wanted to and that it was a while since she cooked. And so they settled around the campfire while they waited for the food.
“So how about some stories?” asked Grogar much to everyone's surprise.
“Well most of the campfire stories that I know are for children,” said Rime as she thought about her children and grandchildren.
“I don't know any campfire story,” said Cheng feeling a little embarrassed that he didn't have any campfire stories to share, he might be a good mage but he could be considered a bookworm and he socialized mostly with his fellow mages.
“I have a few but most of them are legends about you, my lord,” said Agate and she doubted that Grogar wanted to hear about himself.
“What a shame, a campfire without campfire stories,” said Grogar disappointedly.
“How about we get to know each other better? We could talk about ourselves for a bit,” suggested Faust as she sat beside Grogar and let the pot above the fire for a while.
“Um, sure. I don't see the problem,” said Grogar casually, much to the surprise of the others, they never thought that they would hear the true story of their ruler. All they know is the legends from before the exodus to Tambelon, many of which became even more distorted over the millennium after Old Grogar's death.
“Are you sure, Lord Grogar?,” asked Rime since most beings in power were not known for their willingness to talk about their past.
“Yes, I’m sure. I see no problem since we will be traveling together for a while,” said Grogar with a smile.
“Who should go first?” asked Cheng, his researcher mentality getting the better of him when he was presented with this unique opportunity.
“Since you asked why don't you go first?” asked Grogar with a smirk when he saw the curiosity in the mage’s eyes.
Then all the occupants around the campfire looked at the yuètù, who while nervous because of the attention he was receiving took a deep breath to calm down.
“Ok, I’m Jiahao Cheng and as you know I’m a yuètù or more commonly known as moon rabbits/hares. My kind is usually known for it's connection to the earth and the moons because of that most of us tend to be farmers, herbalists, fortune tellers or something similar,” explained Cheng since he knew that Grogar died on Mundus before his race came into existence on Tambelon, even though Grogar already knew about them he wanted to hear from Cheng himself, after all how one perceived his/her own race can be vastly different from how others –members of other races– perceived them.
“And yet you chose to become a mage,” said Grogar curiously while pointed out this uncommon fact.
Cheng nervously moved his right hand over his long ears like one would do on a long hair, but otherwise just nodded and answered, “Yeah, it’s unusual for one of my kind to be a mage in big cities and extremely rare in rural areas like my home village, although it is a small town by now since it became more well known after I became a high ranking mage in the guild.”
“I see. I apologize for the interruption, please continue your story,” said Grogar, he might be a ruler but he could still be polite. Faust nodded, Rime didn't show any reaction and Agate just shrugged before reaching for the canteen she was carrying since she was a bit thirsty.
“There is no need to apologize, My Emperor,” said Cheng humbly before he continued his extended introduction/story, “Anyway, I’m just one among two hundred forty-three siblings an–”
*Cough* *cough*
Cheng was interrupted by Agate, who choked on the water she was drinking. She knew that all rabbit/hare folks were very fertile and bred fast because of their short lifespan, but it was still quite a shock to hear about someone having so many siblings.
“Sorry, keep going,” said Agate after she recovered.
“As I was saying, I’m one among two hundred forty-three siblings, in fact, I am the youngest of my litter. With the exception to few that decided to leave, most remained on the village and I had a somewhat peaceful childhood, but just after my 8th birthday, a very large group of bandits was spotted near the village. The mayor managed to gather enough money to hire a mage or a warrior from one of the guilds, my father and a friend of his went to the Capital, but his friend ended up being attacked by a feral manticore,” narrated Cheng before he took a sip from his own canteen and Faust took this opportunity to check on the soup.
After making sure that the vegetable soup wasn't overcooked she sat beside Grogar once again to hear the story. This occasion reminded her of her teenage years when she would camp with some friends she made, occasionally with one or two lovers, before she was worshiped by the three tribes and other equine races.
“Luckily dad's friend survived but had to remain in the city for treatment, he ended up meeting a nice minotauress, fell in love and never left the Capital, nowadays he is a successful apothecary. My dad managed to hire a mage and with his help both of them arrived safely on the village and the mage dealt with the bandits. After that the mage noted that I had an unusually high reserve of magic, so he gave me the chance to be his apprentice,” Cheng continued to narrate until steam started to come out of the pot.
Faust floated the pot from the fire to a small table that was previously set up to let it cool a little bit.
“After arguing about it with my parents they ended up accepting and the mage became my master. Then I spent the next twenty years studying and doing jobs for the guild after I became a full-fledged mage, but I would visit my hometown two or three times a year, and here I am,” Cheng finished narrating just as Faust gave everyone a bowl of soup.
“Sorry, I didn't pack any meat,” said Cheng to Agate.
“It's all right, I just eat meat once every two weeks anyway,” said Agate to Cheng.
“At least now I know how you became a mage,” said Rime since it was the first time she heard this story, granted she never asked but still it was nice to know a bit more about her friends.
“Are you happy?” asked Grogar after finished his bowl.
“Yes my lord, I have always been a curious bunny, so studying the arcane was a dream coming true for me, there is always something to discover,” said Cheng excitedly, which cause Rime to smile at her friend antic.
“I see,” said Grogar with a thoughtful look on his face as he remembered the dreams he had both on Earth and the almost forgotten dreams of Old Grogar from before the death of his family.
After that, they ate mostly in silence, but occasionally talked about something simple and not long after everyone was fed. After that Rime did a quick spell to clean the pot and bowls.
“So who is next?” asked Agate curious to hear another story, but this caused the other to focus on her.
“Since you asked…” Rime trailed off and Agate sighed, she should have stayed quiet.
“Alright. My name is Agate Niaruuthli and I’m a first generation tianma qilin, my father is a fire dragon and my mother was a unicorn with earth pony heritage, which I inherited. I spent most of my life in the Capital, where my mother taught me magic and my father trained me to be a warrior. When I became old enough I joined the Warriors’ Guild. That was around a century ago and I have been doing missions ever since. Nowadays I only have my father, who is part of the council,” narrated Agate, she might be “old” by most races standards, but for dragons, she was still considered young. While her life was somewhat long she considered it to be rather uneventful.
“Father?” asked Grogar with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, my fellow councilman Ixen Jeski. That's his daughter,” clarified Rime referring to the red dragon that is part of the Regent Council.
Then Grogar looked at Agate beyond the physical plane and noted that her magic was similar to Ixen’s. If you tried to just look at both of them you might think they are not related, she must have inherited most of her looks and magical affinity from her mother.
“It’s getting late, we probably have enough time for one more story. How about I tell mine? We can continue tomorrow night,” suggested Rime and the others nodded so she started her story, “Well, my name is Hard Rime and I was born in Zerzura. I’m a standard gryphoness, but most people think I’m an axex gryphoness because of my feathers and fur blending so well and my affinity for magic, although some of my grandchildren are axex gryphons.”
“You have grandchildren?” asked Agate while Cheng had a thoughtful look since he assumed Rime was an axex gryphoness. But as he thought about it now there was a small discrepancy, her black stripes from her white tiger half ended in the middle of her back –he saw her back when she was sparring with Agate.
Axex gryphons were similar to the traditional gryphons but their fur and feather blend so well that was impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins, if she was one then her stripes would continue even on her feathers. Also generally axex gryphons were more often than not more magically inclined.
“We know each other for a century and you never asked me if I had children,” said Rime to Agate in a theatrical manner, both of them unaware of Cheng’s introspection and the rather amusing banter they were providing for the rest of the party.
“To be fair a century is not that long for a dragon or most dragon offshoots like qilins, most of us only think about having a family when we are around three centuries old or older,” said Agate to Rime in a matter of fact tone not at all concern with her friends' antics.
“This coming from a two and a half century qilin,” said Rime in an almost childish manner before she looked at the rest of the group that was just looking at the interaction between the gryphoness and the qilin. So she decided to continue her story, “Anyway, my family has a long history that goes back to the founding of the Floating City of Zerzura, so it was no surprise that I became involved in its politics. I much like Cheng had an unusual large reserve of magic so my mother asked for a friend to teach me magic and by the time I became the head of the family I was part of the council on Zerzura and an accomplished mage.”
“I never liked politics, too much backstabbing,” commented Agate.
“Indeed, I too never like politics, but it was hard to backstab me since I was very hard to kill, besides I was more like a figurehead than anything else back then. I had no problems in letting the nobles and my daughters rule as they pleased,” said Faust much to the surprise of those present with the exception of Grogar, to him it wasn't unexpected since she was very free-spirited even as a child, to her being a queen must have felt like being in a cage. After that, it took a few seconds for the group to recover from that revelation and Rime continued.
“After that, I remained there for about two decades before an opportunity to become a member of the Regent Council appeared, so I retired as the head of the family and gave the position to my oldest son while his mate took my place on Zerzura's council before moving to the Capital. There I met Agate, her father and the rest of the Regent Council, then we became friends. It was such a relief that the Regent Council wasn't found of backstabbing each other, in fact, we have to take an oath before becoming part of the Council. Old Minos and Kyron say that it's to avoid meaningless infighting and that we all should do our best to serve the true ruler of Tambelon. Then a century later you returned,” Rime finished her tale and by now the biggest moon was on the center of the sky.
After they extinguished the fire and collected the rune stone before entering the tent –thanks to advanced magic it was bigger on the inside. The interior looked like a small hallway with four doors, each door led to a room.
“We only have four rooms and there is five of us,” pointed out Cheng.
“It’s no problem, I will share a room with my master,” said Faust as she chose the first door on the right.
“Well, I was thinking in sharing a room with Rime here anyway,” said Agate and Rime nodded while she chose the first room on the left.
“Well, at least we have an extra room,” said Cheng as he went to the second door on the left. Then he entered the room after he said, “See you all tomorrow. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” said Rime and Agate at the same time before entering their room.
“Goodnight,” said Faust as she opened the door to her room.
“Until tomorrow then,” said Grogar as he entered his room after Faust.
Author's Note
Sorry if for the shorter chapter, but I had less time to write this last month.
Anyway for the inspirations:
The moon/jade rabbit/hare is a asian legend. Yuètù is its the chinese name. The same applies to qilin/kirin.
Agate's second name means "teal" in draconic from D&D.
Jiahao Cheng – Jiahao is from Chinese 家 (jiā) meaning "home, family" combined with 豪 (háo) meaning "brave, heroic, chivalrous". While Cheng is 成 (chéng) meaning "completed, finished, succeeded" or 诚 (chéng) meaning "sincere, honest, true".
For the difference between some of the types of gryphons I will be using. Anthro versions of the ones below and more, except for the Minoan gryphon.
Zerzura –was long rumored to have existed deep in the desert west of the Nile River in Egypt or Libya. It is also know as "The Oasis of Birds".
Agartha –was a legendary city that is said to be located near or in the Earth's core. is frequently associated or confused with Shambhala.
Atlantis – the most well know lost city. It's already used as a underwater city in many works of fiction, so why not?
3.1. First night out of town. (CLOP)
Author's Note
Reading this chapter is optional, it has only the sex/clop scene. If you don't like it then don't read it, you can continue the story without this chapter. Anyway, tell me how I did in the comments below.
Warning, this chapter has French kissing, drinking blood, squirting, lactation, breastfeeding, nipple sucking, multiple orgasms, vaginal penetration, incest, excessive cum and creampie.
3.1. First night out of town. (CLOP)
Grogar closed the door of the room he would share with Faust for the remainder of the time they spent on the road in this journey and as soon as the door was closed a he felt a surge of magic. A Soundproof Spell was placed on the walls, floor and ceiling, so he was not even remotely surprised to see Faust with only a dark see-through nightgown and a black garter belt that was attached to dark fishnet stockings.
“Why do I feel that you would have done that regardless if we were out on a journey or still in the palace?” said Grogar as he raised an eyebrow but smiled as he let his eyes drink the image of Faust posing for him by laying on her left side and giving the bedroom eyes that were framed by her red silk-like mane while using her left arm as a support while she placed her right arm on her side accentuating her curves.
“I waited for millennia for you to wake up, to feel your touch again. A mare can hold out for so long, you know?” asked Faust as she got on her knees and placed her right arm on the bed as she leaned forward and gave an innocent look, that was rather enticing but without looking like she was trying to seduce Grogar, which she was, and asked him using an equally innocent but seductive sing-song tone, “Can you blame me, master?”
Instead of giving a verbal answer Grogar just walked toward the bed and gently push Faust so she was on her back, the way her wings spread beside her while her red mane framed her face gave vivid contrast to the dull light blue cover of the bed. She just smiled coyly as his muscular figure hovered above her while she shamelessly placed her legs around Grogar to pull him closer to her.
The cape made of shadows around Grogar and enveloping Faust only added to the feeling that there was no escape from him, not that she wanted to escape in the first place, and those ruby-like eyes filled with lust that seemed to burn her with its gaze, it was like a demon ready to ravish a young maiden as soon as some unknown signal was given. Faust rather liked that scenario, even if she wasn’t very fond of demons in general, since she was a fan of art in general, especially acting.
Grogar leaned down and captured the alicorn’s lips with his own, she moaned as he savagely invaded her mouth with his tongue and explored every nook and cranny of this warm cave while brutally keeping her own tongue down. The pleasure and the feeling of dominance her master was giving her didn’t distract her from the fabric of his pants rubbing against her lower lips, the knowledge that the only thing between her entrance and her master’s tool was a single layer of fabric just made this moment all the sweeter in the alicorn’s mind. As Grogar pulled back and looked into Faust’s blue eyes and said, “You are mine, never forget that.”
Faust just nodded and Grogar just leaned down and kissed her neck. From there he kept kissing and licking her soft fur coat with his rather long tongue, which caused Faust to moan and hold Grogar by his horns in an effort to coax him to do more but he kept his pace and slowly traveled down her body until he reached her breasts and the rim of her nightgown. With his teeth he grabbed the edge of the cloth that was covering the soft and heavenly orbs and pulled down while being careful to not rip the fabric, he rather liked that nightgown on Faust. Once both orbs were freed and over the hem of her nightgown he proceeded to place his mouth on the right nipple and started to suck. Faust just moaned as her master took his time with her heavenly orbs and it wasn’t long before he was rewarded with a sweet tasting milk from a goddess that was associated with motherhood throughout the whole of Tambelon.
“Simply divine,” said Grogar as he pulled back and looked at the panting alicorn, those half-lidded blue eyes and blushing face only making more difficult for Grogar control himself.
Gogar just went lower, all the while trailing his path with kisses until he reached her drooling and quivering lips. He just used his hands to grab her round and soft behind while creating eight tentacles with from his cloak of darkness, two of them wrapped around Faust’s ankles and spread her legs, two others immobilized her wings, another pair wrapped around her wrists and pinned her arms above her head while the last pair undid his belt and took off his pants before dispelling these two.
Faust was filled with fear when that god-killing weapon touched her but that fear only “spiced” the arousal she was feeling from her helplessness before her master and that only made the feeling of her master’s long tongue invading her entrance all the more intense. She tried to free her arms to do something but it was futile and she could do nothing but take any pleasure that her master would give her.
Grogar just savored the sweet taste of the bound goddess and he would be lying if he said he didn’t desire to have Faust for himself when he first saw her after awakening, both the Old Grogar in Mundus and the New Grogar here in Tambelon. Now she was here bound and helpless on his bed and at his mercy, by her moans, she was also enjoying this and was intended to savor it for a bit longer. However, Faust reached her limit first and when she climaxed Grogar made sure to drink as much of her sweet nectar.
Once Faust came down from her high she noticed that her master was pressing the flat head of his member against her lips and before she could say anything her master hammered his two feet long and 5in thick member in her wet tunnel. Her scream was cut when her master once again kissed her, more like ravishing her mouth with his tongue, and when he pulled her she just whined as her master pulled back.
“You’re mine,” said Grogar as his eyes glowed red with arcane power and Faust shivered, at that moment Grogar released her arms and wings.
“I’m yours, my master,” said Faust as she placed her hands on each side of her master’s face.
Grogar started to move his hips as he released Faust’s legs, which she used to wrap around her master’s torso, and he once again started to lick her neck, which was made easier when she leaned her head to the side and allowed Grogar easier access. Then he brushed his sharp fangs against her skin and she shivered as her prey instincts warned to get away from but it got mixed with her arousal, then she came when her master’s fangs pierced her skin and as blood came out she felt her master drink it. He just savored Faust’s blood as a fine wine as she climaxed and through her blood, he tasted her pleasure and memories, so he climaxed as well.
Faust felt her master’s warm seed fill her womb as he tasted her blood and all she could do was open her mouth in a silent scream in the throes of climax while she hugged her master tightly, which pushed her master’s fangs further into her neck. That deliciously twisted mixture of pain and pleasure prolonging their climaxes, but eventually, it came to an end and Grogar pulled his bloodied fangs from Faust’s neck and a little bit of blood stained the covers before her alicorn healing factor closed the wound and replenished her blood.
Grogar closed his eyes as he saw flashes of memories, images and sounds appearing in his mind. From the opening his eyes after what felt a long time, seeing Bray and preparing for a fight, then seeing his own body on the throne and looking into a mirror only to see Faust. He just saw Faust’s memories and he learned a lot from them.
“You have been busy,” said Grogar as he opened his eyes and looked into Faust’s blue eyes, then he said to the panting alicorn, “You have been a naughty mare, my dear.”
“Well, *pant* I tol- *pant* I told you, *pant* master, ‘a mare can only wait for so long’,” said Faust as she was recovering her breath.
“Even so, not even an year and you end up in an orgy with the castle staff,” said Grogar and Faust chuckled nervously.
“You’re not mad, are you, master?” asked Faust nervously.
“I see no problem with that, you may be mine but so is anyone that lives in my domain, If you want to sleep with someone else don’t let me stop you,” said Grogar as he moved his hips, which caused his still hard member to brush against her sensitive and well-used tunnel, then he asked to the moaning alicorn, “Ready for round two?”
Faust just smiled.
4. A small detour on the journey.
Two weeks after Grogar's party's departure
These last weeks were rather uneventful, but it was fun. Sometimes they would encounter another traveler from nearby villages, it was refreshing to just enjoy the scenery and it filled Grogar with nostalgia by reminding of the times Old Grogar wandered Mundus before he started his campaign.
The group became closer as they spent the nights around the campfire and got to know each other as well as occasionally fighting monsters on the way. They passed through some small villages and farms on the way to Cheng's hometown. When the party arrived on the town, the last settlement before the crossroad that would lead to either Zerzura or Agartha.
It was still morning when the party arrived on a hill overlooking Cheng's hometown after passing through a forest and it surprised Grogar when he saw the town. It was a blend of what you would expect of a small town in a fantasy setting with fields around it, but what surprised him was the fields with many hills with houses built under it that reminded him of the Shire from the Hobbit. The appearance made sense since feral rabbits created burrows, but still, it was a nice place to live.
“Welcome to Autumn Leaf, the town got its name from the leaves of the surrounding trees, but it's more like a nickname. The original name of the village was Zhenqiu, ironically qui can mean either 'hill' or 'autumn',” explained Cheng as he motioned for the town.
“It looks like a lovely place to live,” said Faust as she looked at the town.
Agate didn't look that surprised since she passed through this town before, the main road passed further north but after Cheng's promotion many visitors would come here and the town expanded. This also caused a new road that led here from the main road to be built. Grogar just nodded, to see a small town like these filled him with happiness. Old Grogar despite his selfish desires cherished life itself, when he was studying to become a mage he wondered how life would be without the old gods to guide it.
Despite New Grogar not being the Old Grogar, he knew his desires beside vengeance, he might not care much about individuals, but he desired to see where the paths that were rejected by the great majority of species led to. The fact that Tambelon evolved further and faster than Mundus and had a far greater variety of lifeforms and cultures filled him with pride. It was remarkable how culture can grow through interactions and the introduction of new ideas. That was another reason that Grogar disliked the nations that were comprised mostly of the same species, how they expected to grow both as a nation and as a species with almost no interaction with outsiders. Besides their control of the weather was another aspect that he disliked, “Necessity is the mother of invention” after all.
“My lord?” said Agate interrupting Grogar's introspection.
Grogar noticed that the party was already walking in the town's direction, but stopped when they noticed that Grogar wasn't with them.
“It's nothing Agate, just old memories and dreams,” said Grogar before following the group.
The party was noticed by some bystanders, mostly rabbits and sheep working on the fields surrounding the town, it wasn't the first time they had visitors, but their surprise came from the fact that they saw Cheng and waved at him. They were about to approach and greet him but stopped when they saw Faust. Alicorns while rare were still many, but the only alicorn of the Old World was a figure well know throughout Tambelon. This caused a crowd to form near the group – rumors travel fast in a small town after all– to both see the goddess and to greet the visitors, especially considering that Cheng was part of the group.
*WHISTLE*
The high pitch sound of a whistle was heard, which caused the crowd to look at the source of the sound. It was a moon rabbit like Cheng but it was clearly female, which was evident by the tight fitting dark blue pants with knee pads and vest over a light blue long sleeved shirt with a golden badge on her black utility belt showing that she was part of the town’s law enforcement. On her right hip there was a small gun, around her neck a small chain with the whistle, which was still in her mouth, a fingerless glove on her left hand, a normal black glove on her right hand and foot bracers that left her toes free –lagomorphs of all kinds generally hate closed shoes, they prefer either bracers or no shoes at all.
The rabbit officer was around 3ft tall –a height similar to Cheng's–, had a slender figure, which was common on her species for both genders with the females having wider hips –as was the case here– and the males having wider shoulders instead, her round and cute face with a pink nose with white and gray fur. The white fur was on the front of her neck and around her mouth and eyes while her gray fur covering the rest of her face, but it became darker on the tips of her long ears.
“Ok guys, move along you are all blocking the main road. Besides let them get settled first, I’m sure that Cheng can tell all the details later,” said the female rabbit, which caused the crowd to disperse, then she approached the group or more specifically Cheng and said happily, “Hello little bro.”
“Hello Jun,” said Cheng before hugging his older sister. After that, he let go of her and turned to the group and said, “Guys, this is one of my older sisters, Jun-Yang.”
“It's a pleasure to meet you,” said Rime in a polite almost noble manner.
“Hello,” said Agate simply.
“Greetings,” said Faust politely.
“Greetings,” said Grogar in a firm but neutral tone.
Jun just looked at the hooded figure with curiosity, she could somewhat feel the power and authority in that voice.
“Are you going to stay for the harvest festival, Your Majesty?” asked Jun as she looked at Grogar before leaning forward after placing her right hand on her chest.
“I see no problem in staying a bit longer. Besides enjoying the little detours along the way can be a reward greater than what you find at the end of a journey,” said Grogar as his traveling cloak melted into a long-sleeved shirt. Out of curiosity, he asked, “How did you know it was me?”
“Your presence is almost indistinguishable from the world around us and yet I can feel your... Um, authority I think it's the best word to describe it. Besides Lady Faust is here and she swore she wouldn't leave the Capital before your return,” explained Jun as she put her index finger on her chin, it was quite a cute image.
“You have good instincts. They will serve you well,” said Grogar to the small officer.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said Jun before she turned to Cheng and asked, “Please tell me you're going to be at mom and dad’s house for lunch?”
“That sounds lovely,” said Faust
“Yeah, we can go there after finding a place to stay for a few days,” said Rime agreeing with Faust.
“There is no need to do that, we can stay at my parents’ farm for the duration of our visit since there are plenty of spare rooms there,” said Cheng.
Jun was about to say something, but a small beep was followed by a small glowing magic circle appearing over her left ear. She used her right hand to tap on the small circle.
“Yeah, Jun-Yang here,” said Jun to whoever was on the other side of the communication spell and she seemed to have got an answer, so she said, “Alright, I’ll be there in a minute.”
Then Jun turned off the communication and turned to the group and said, “Sorry, but duty calls. I’ll pass by the house before lunch. Until later little bro.”
Jun jumped on a nearby blue and white motorcycle with the same emblem as her badge before speeding off. One of the most notable achievements of Tambalonians, magitek. This case automobile created using a combination of mechanical science and magic.
“And there she goes, I never understood her obsession with weapons and vehicles,” said Cheng to himself before he turned to the party and motioned for them to follow, then he said, “The house is not far from here, it has two spare rooms so if we use the same arrangement as the tent we can all stay there.”
The members of the party didn't mind and so they proceeded to walk for a while. They passed a fence and a sign that had drawings of bunnies and houses, but they continued to walk. Then they passed through some houses along the way with other rabbits living there, some looked like normal houses while other looked like the home of a hobbit from the Shire, and they waved at Cheng as they passed until they reached a decent house.
Despite its medieval look, the house was made using modern materials and it was possible to sense magic on the stones and metal that made the up the building. They even passed through a detection spell, no surprise since it was the house of a mage.
“It's a lovely neighborhood, but you said we were going to your parents’ house,” said Agate and Cheng looked confused for a moment before he realized what was going on.
“We are at my parents’ farm, the houses we passed by are from my siblings that already married and are living in a plot of land given to them by our parents. We have been on the farm since that fence,” clarified Cheng as the group approached the house.
Agate was surprised by that information, Rime not so much because she saw similar arrangements before, Faust and Grogar on the other hand just didn't mind at all. The group, minus Agate, noticed a miniature house on the wall just at the level of the small fence beside the door. Just before they reached the door they hear a click from the mini house, from it came out two small beings.
The first was small, around 3.5in tall, pony-like being with a slender figure and it was possible to tell that it was a male because he was topless only using a pair of white pants. This showed his red fur coat and green mane, from his head, came two long antennas the same color as his coat and from his back came butterfly wings with a beautiful red, blue and black pattern. It was a breezie, or as Grogar preferred a fairy pony, but he couldn't tell from which type.
The second was female, as evident by her D-cup breasts –proportional to her size– that were covered by a short strapless light blue top, which contrasted with the dark teal feathers from her upper torso and arms before giving way to small black avian talons at the elbow, along loincloth of the same color as the top, which contrasted with her light brown fur coat with dark brown spots that covered her lower torso and legs. Her height was around 3.8in, it was possible to see that she had a slender yet muscular figure. This was a traditional pygmy gryphon of the hummingbird variety as evident by her wings that were moving just as fast one and her size, her lower half was probably that of a small feliform judging by her tail which was longer than her legs.
The two small beings hovered near the mini house and observed the group until they saw Cheng. Then they flew near him, the fairy pony hovered in front of the rabbit mage while the mini gryphoness landed on his left shoulder and hugged his head.
“Cheng you are back! We weren't expecting a visit so soon,” said the gryphoness while Cheng extended his right hand.
“Yeah, normally you send a message before coming,” said the fairy pony as he landed on Cheng's extended hand.
“Sorry Aron, Ida. But I came here on a mission, we are just going to stay for a few days before departing to Zerzura,” said Cheng before turning to the group and introduce the two, “Guys, these are Aron and his mate, Ida, they take care of the house and send me messages from my family while some of my siblings take care of the land around the house.”
“Hello,” said Rime and Agate at the same time to the unusual couple.
“You two must have quite a story. I can't wait to hear it,” commented Faust as she looked at the couple, who flew off of Cheng and were circulating Faust in curiosity.
“But first let’s settle first,” said Grogar, which caused the small couple to focus on him, then they hovered in front of him before bowing.
“Of course Your Majesty,” said Ida and Aron at the same time just as Cheng opened the door.
The couple flew into the house and proceeded to pull small ropes to open the drapes, so light could get in. It was a modest house, but the furniture was bigger than necessary for a rabbit, but considering that Cheng may bring larger visitors it wasn't unreasonable to think he furnished this place to be comfortable regardless of size.
Two hours later
The group settle and chose a room, they kept the same sleeping arrangement, so Faust and Grogar got one room while Agate and Rime got another, Cheng just settled in his old room after he also showed his lab in the basement. Aron made some tea for the party members and Ida asked if they wanted anything in particular for lunch, but Cheng informed her that they would go to his parents’ house for lunch.
Not long after the doorbell was heard, then Ida turned the knob and opened the door.
“Hello Jun,” said Ida as she hovered just about Jun’s height.
“Hi there Ida, me and Katsu were going to mom and dad's house for lunch. I thought about giving a lift to Cheng and his group,” said Jun now wearing a simple short sleeved pink button-up shirt, light blue pants and black bracers on her ankles. Without the gloves, it was possible to see that her right arm was a gray mechanical replacement.
“Ida, who is…Oh, Jun we were about to head out. Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?” asked Cheng as he came to see who was at the door.
“Hi there Cheng. I told I would stop here before going to mom and dad’s, besides I thought you guys wouldn't mind a lift,” said Jun as she pointed behind her with her left hand.
Cheng looked to where his sister was pointing and saw a white and green van that was used to deliver vegetables from the farm, on the wheel he saw a red-furred fox wearing khaki colored pants, a light green colored button-up shirt and aviator glasses. The fox was leaning back on the driver's seat and checking on his phone.
“That's Katsuo, my partner in the force and my boyfriend,” said Jun when she saw Cheng raise an eyebrow at the fox.
“Whatever, who you date is your choice. I'm going to call the others,” said Cheng before going back inside.
“Are you and Aron coming as well?” asked Jun looking at the pygmy gryphoness and Ida shook her head.
“No, I want to spend the afternoon with Aron and we have other plans for lunch,” said Ida before winking at Jun.
“More power to you girl,” said Jun as she raised her left hand and made a fist. Despite the size difference, Ida returned the fist bump.
While the group came out and Cheng locked the door Ida sat in front of the mini house. Aron landed beside his mate and waved at the group, who waved back before approaching the van.
Katsuo pushed the edges of his phone and caused the solid holographic screen to shrink until the edges met. Then he looked at the group his girlfriend insisted in giving a lift to the clients of one of her brothers and her brother as well, more specifically the one that became a mage and worked for the Mages’ Guild in the Capital.
The fox saw the blue qilin and immediately noticed that she was a warrior, probably a bodyguard to the white gryphoness –he guessed– she was definitely a noble. Then he saw another moon rabbit in robes, the brother Jun mentioned most likely, but he froze when he saw the alicorn and the goat.
Katsuo immediately opened the door and walked around the car to greet the group, more specifically Faust and Grogar.
“Your Majesty!” said Katsuo in a surprised tone as he bowed, before saying, “I'm truly sorry, I didn't know that the Emperor would be here. If I knew I would have prepared a more suitable mode of transportation.”
“It’s of no consequence, besides constantly reveling in luxury for too long can get old. I have no need for those that grovel at my hooves, what matters to me are the accomplishments, skills and contributions of those I consider my subjects,” said Grogar in a firm tone, this seemed to help Katsuo because he stood up, but still had an uncertain look. If Grogar had to guess he had a very rough life and knew the price of angering someone with power.
Jun saw what happened and was immediately beside her boyfriend, despite being a little over half of his height and a completely different species it was possible to see that she cared deeply for him.
“That's was very kind of you master,” said Faust quietly to Grogar.
“It was the truth, besides that kitsune has potential,” said Grogar to Faust, but he saw one of Jun’s ears twitch and turn in his direction. She probably heard what he said, bunnies and their hearing.
After that they all entered the van, Rime, Katsuo, Cheng and Jun sat on the front, with Jun behind the wheel on the driver's seat, her brother and her boyfriend beside her on the middle while Rime sat by the window, it was possible because the two rabbits and the kitsune were small in comparison to Rime and the others. On the back Grogar just conjured seats for himself, Faust and Agate. After that, they departed.
“We have some time before we arrived at mom and dad's,” said Jun without looking away from the road. Then she asked, “Why exactly did you come? Normally you send a message before showing up.”
“It was because of me actually. Me and Agate here are on an escorting mission to Zerzura, but I asked if we could pass through Autumn Leaf Town on the way,” explained Cheng before he looked at Katsuo, then he returned his attention to his sister and asked, “So, how did you two meet?”
“Well, that's a funny story…” said Katsuo before trailing off when Jun glared at him.
“We don't need your brand of humor right now, Slick,” said Jun.
“Ok, you tell them then, Fluff,” said Katsuo with a smug look on his muzzle.
Jun just kept a neutral look on her face before saying, “You will be sleeping on the couch tonight.”
The kitsune kept his smug look, but Jun could see the small twitch on his right eyebrow behind the lenses of his aviator glasses, so she just send him an equally smug look and said, “Glad we have an understanding sweetheart.”
“Ah, young love,” sighed Rime and Faust at the same time, which caused the couple to blushed, Katsuo had the good fortune of having a dark orange fur that hid his blush, Jun’s fur also hid her blush but not as well as Katsuo’s, besides it was possible to know she was blushing by the interior part of her ears that darken slightly. Grogar just smiled at these interactions, that and the fact they were on a van reminded him of his life as a human, this atmosphere felt just like when he and his family went on a road trip.
“Anyway, we met before I went to the academy. I just saw him on the city square selling ice cream on a, particularly hot day. He and his siblings were there when I bought one, after that we just talked for a bit until he mentioned that he was going to the police academy as well. At first, I was excited to have a friend in the academy since all my other friends and siblings wanted different careers. We didn't get along well back then after he said I was too 'by the book’,” said Jun recounting the events.
“And she still is,” said Katsuo to himself quietly, but he was still heard by the pair of rabbits. This caused Jun to reach out and punch his left arm when Cheng leaned forward, then Katsuo said in a dramatic but still fake tone, “Oh, that's police brutality.”
Jun ignored Katsuo's witty remark and continued her story, “And he was too 'street smart’ for his own good, he would use loopholes in the academy's rules and that silver tongue of his to talk his way out of trouble,” narrated Jun, but when she paused Katsuo interjected again.
“And you love that silver tongue,” said Katsuo as he wiggled his eyebrows while looking at Jun, which caused Rime and Faust to giggle, Cheng groaned since this was his sister that he was referring to, Agate just raised an eyebrow and Grogar kept relaxing. Jun just glared at her boyfriend again and he just lifted his arms to say he surrendered before he picked his phone to distract himself.
“Anyway, I wasn't exactly happy when we were assigned not only to the same precinct but as each other's partners as well. At least we kept a somewhat professional attitude despite his attempts at annoying me with his bad jokes. That changed when we busted an operation dealing with illegal substances and he ended up saving my life,” said Jun as she lifted her left arm and caressed her mechanical prosthesis while remembering that day. Then she finished her story, “After that, we became good friends and eventually we started dating. Of course, we agreed to not let our relationship interfere with our work.”
“Well, that was quite a story Ms. Jun,” said Rime as she looked away from the window and at the rabbit in question after a brief glance at the one-tailed kitsune.
“Just call me Jun, I never liked being called ‘miss’,” said Jun without looking away from the road. Then she started to giggle, which caused Cheng and Rime to raise an eyebrow, so Jun clarified, “Sorry, I just remembered the day I told my parents I was dating a kitsune.”
While Jun was interacting with the other on the front Grogar looked at Faust and saw her with a distant look, through his magic contract with her plus his own abilities he could tell she was remembering their confrontation just before the start of their war against each other.
“Still think me trying to take over Mundus was a mistake?” asked Grogar to Faust, which caught Agate’s attention.
“No, it was the rules and laws you put in place that allowed so many species to develop and interact the way they did on Tambelon,” said Faust before she remembered the nations that existed on Mundus today, how different species stay mostly on their own territory and rarely interact with each other. Contrasting perspectives could lead to the development of both sides, it was no wonder the Tambelon developed so quickly compared to Mundus, where most species that tended to share similar views stayed almost isolated –the few exceptions were those that traveled a lot or lived in the borders– while here they interact constantly.
Faust focused on Jun and Katsuo again as she saw the yuètù punch the kitsune arm again when he made another inappropriate but harmless comment, it was a sight she would never see on Mundus the way it was now. She admitted that even if she survived the final battle against Grogar she would have let her daughters rule just like they have ruled as if she wasn't there. It was somewhat depressing to realize that she wouldn't make much of a difference on Mundus even if was by her own choice.
In her fear of repeating the mistakes of her father she let the mortals without guidance, that wasn't bad in on itself, but just because she wanted to let them make mistakes and learn on their own didn't mean she couldn't help them along the way. Grogar wanted to rule and guide them himself, something she was fervently against, but she failed to realize that tyranny wasn't always a bad thing.
On Tambelon Grogar made sure that his rules and laws were so ironclad that even after his death they couldn't be defied, but he left enough wiggle room for some of them to be interpreted differently and for different cultures to make different laws so long they didn't contradict the ones made by Grogar himself.
The laws made by the sorcerer only concerned his empire as a whole and so long the actions of his subjects were “beneath” these laws they could do what they wanted. Then she remembered one of Grogar's lessons when she was just a filly, “Rules are guidelines, suggestions for how we live. What matters is what we choose to do with them and how we choose to interpret them. Not letting yourself be tied down by rules doesn't necessarily mean ignoring or breaking them, by imposing limitations one can grow around or surpassing said limitations, life can show its truest potential when presented with a goal to strive for. That is the true test of life.” And in her own eye she failed this test, she let her fears and limited views of the world tie her down, which caused her to fight against her former mentor.
“I'm truly sorry for what I did back then. Maybe if you proceeded with your plans Mundus would have been as prosperous as Tambelon is today. It would have been perfect,” said Faust, only to hear a snort from Grogar, which caught the attention of everyone even Jun, who turned her ears to hear what Grogar had to say.
“You are wrong,” said Grogar firmly and while it hurt Faust to hear him say that he clarified, “What is done is done and it can't be changed, would I have done something differently? Probably. Could it have been better? Definitely. Do I regret what happened? No, I don't.”
“What do you mean, master?” asked Faust while the others wanted to know the answer as well.
“Have you forgotten what I thought you as a filly? Then answer this, why haven't I just traveled back in time and proceeded with my original plan?” asked Grogar.
That left all the others to ponder, time travel was within the realm of possibility considering all of Grogar's powers and knowledge. After a minute of silence, Grogar answered, “Because not only it would be an insult to all the Mundusians and Tambalonians that died on that war, but to all the lives they have lived and are still living to this day. It means to erase all the effort, love, suffering, dreams and accomplishments of those that came after the war. Do you think that I’m petty enough to trample on all those dreams just for another chance at a plan that already failed? While I have no problem in using time as a weapon if I am to resume my campaign I will do so in the present.”
That left everyone speechless, they never considered that particular scenario with that point of view. Jun and Katsuo were hit extremely hard by that information, as they looked at each other they couldn't imagine a world where they never met. That possibility was also horrifying to Rime, whose thoughts turned to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that will be born soon.
“Man, you should write your own motivational speeches,” said Echo inside Grogar’s mind.
“Not now,” thought Grogar before returning his attention to reality and say, “There are two things that I hate, the first I learned to live with and overcome, but the second is something that I abhor with all my being and would rather erase myself than achieve it. Can you guess what the first one is?”
They shook their heads wanting to hear the answer from Grogar himself, so he answered, “It is weakness . Do you know why?”
“‘Not letting yourself be tied by rules doesn't necessarily mean ignoring or breaking them, by imposing limitations one can grow around or surpass said limitations, that's what you said about the ‘true test of life’ back when I was a filly,” said Faust quoting the lesson from Grogar that she just remembered.
“Good, you remember my lessons. Can you guess the second one?” asked Grogar, but he saw that they would just wait so he answered and asked, “It’s perfection , can you guess why?”
“Um, wouldn't perfection be the most awesome thing ever?” asked Katsuo with Jun nodding.
Cheng and Rime cringed when they heard that statement, which was noticed by the others, although it was far more evident on Cheng than Rime.
“Because there wouldn't be nothing else to study,” said Cheng, which confused Jun and Katsuo.
“‘Always seek perfection, but hope you never achieve it’ is one of the first lessons that a researcher of any kind must learn. We always aim to improve and make things better, to us perfection is no different than stagnation, for those that strive to better themselves it could be considered a fate worse than death,” clarified Rime.
“Exactly, to be stagnant is to not live at all,” said Grogar.
After that, there was only silence with everyone contemplating what they learned, but their introspection was interrupted when the van stopped.
“We are here,” said Jun as she turned to face the group.
Author's Note
Before anyone starts asking, Jun and Katsuo were based on Judy and Nick from Zootopia, but I added a bit of Yang Xiao Long from RWBY in the character of Jun. As for Katsuo, so far he is just a expy from Nick but I might change that in the future, his name is a japanese name with the same meaning as Nick, which is normally a short for Nicholas.here .Scrolls from RWBY.shepherd0821 's other artworks.Spintherella .
5. Acquaintances from the past.
The group on the front left the van before Grogar compared some houses to the Shire, now it was as if he was on the Shire itself. Many hills, each one a house that had small roads that lead from one front door to the other and he could feel a complex network of tunnels and chambers beneath the ground.
“Cheng!!” multiple voices shouted at the same time when they saw the mage.
“Cheng, we didn't know you would be visiting!” exclaimed a male voice that seemed older, probably the father.
“Mom! Dad! It's good to see you both. Unfortunately, it was work that brought me here,” said Cheng.
“Oh, so is this lovely gryphoness your client? Or is she your girlfriend?” asked a female voice that also showed signs of experience, probably the mother.
“Mom!” exclaimed Cheng confirming Grogar suspicions. Then Cheng explained, “She is just a friend and she is accompanying the clients while I and another friend act as escorts.”
“That's our cue,” said Grogar and the other two that were still inside the van, he got up and reabsorbed the shadows he used to make the seats that he, Faust and Agate were using.
*GASP*
Multiple gasps were heard by the trio as they came into the view of the group outside. Jun and Katsu were leaning on the van, Cheng was talking with a pair of older rabbits and behind them were many other rabbits of different ages, but upon closer inspection, it was possible to see that there were some individuals of other races among the crowd.
Both of the older rabbits had different shades of gray from Jun, both were lighter but the mother was the lighter of the two and the father had a brownish tint, both of them had a chubby look but that didn't hide the muscle on the father, probably the product of a life living in a farm, although it gave the mother a more motherly look, both of them had the same white area beneath the mouth and around the eyes as Jun and lastly the mother had the same eye color as Jun and Cheng while the father had brown eyes. The mother was wearing a simple floral dress while the father was wearing a plain light green button-up shirt and blue overalls.
“Mom, dad, meet my client. His Imperial Majesty, Lord Grogar and Lady Faust,” said Cheng nervously and after that, there was an awkward silence.
“Y-Y-Y-Yo-Yo-Your Majesty!” said the mother as she adjusted her floral dress in an attempt to make herself more presentable in the presence of royalty while her husband remained frozen, the only sign of his nervousness was his twitching nose –a common sign of fear, anxiety or similar emotions on lagomorphs.
“There is no need to be nervous, we are just passing by on our way to Zerzura,” said Grogar trying to alleviate their anxiety, but it seemed to not work because Cheng's father fainted, however, Grogar created a cushion of shadows before he hit the ground.
“Dear/Dad!” shouted Cheng, Jun and their mother at the same time.
“Well, that was unexpected,” commented Faust and Grogar just sighed.
“Where should I put him?” asked Grogar.
“This way,” said Cheng's mother as she motioned for the others to get out of the way and into the house, apparently the worry for her husband overwrote her previously nervousness.
Grogar followed the older doe, but he had to bend down to enter the house and he couldn't stand up straight inside because he would hit his head on the ceiling. Eventually, she led him to a room with photos of many rabbit kits, some books on a stand as well as some wools of cotton and unfinished sweaters, this was probably her and her husband's room.
“I am sorry about that, Your Majesty. Maybe we can discuss this over a meal,” said Cheng’s mother not as nervous as before, while Grogar lowered the buck on the bed.
“That would be nice,” said Grogar as he followed Cheng’s mother outside on the backyard where there were many tables set up, there was also some stoves, barbecue grills and campfires, all in all, a very large outdoor gathering. Most of the tables were occupied by what he assumed to be Cheng and Jun's family, but he could also see some ponies, sheeps, few kitsunes and gryphons as well as other races, probably friends, some of which were on the ground having picnics while sitting on blankets.
Grogar went to a table where Jun, Katsuo, Cheng, Agate, Rime and Faust were sitting and not long after Cheng's mother sat in front of him. Grogar looked at the food on the table, it was enough to be considered a very large feast, but considering how large her family was it shouldn't be a surprise, that and the fact that lagomorphs had a faster than average metabolism.
“The feast looks fantastic,” said Grogar.
“Thank you, Your Majesty. But I’m not the only one who deserves the credit. I would like to apologize for my husband's reaction, he doesn't deal well with surprises,” said Cheng’s mother and just before she could start eating her meal she remembered something, “Oh, how rude of me, I completely forgot to introduce myself. My name is Jiahao Yahui and it's an honor to meet you, Your Majesty.”
“It's a pleasure to meet you as well Mrs. Jiahao,” said Grogar.
“Thank you, Your Majesty, also there is no need to call me "Mrs. Jiahao", just Yahui is fine and besides, with so many kits around is kinda difficult to refer to one's family name. Now let's eat while it's hot,” said Yahui as she and most of the others present clapped their hands/paws together and started to pray.
“We thank the gods for this bountiful meal,” said Yahui Grogar actually felt her prayer reach him through his divine senses, not only hers but also from the other mortals that were present as well and he was sure that Faust felt the same thing.
Gods could hear the prayers of their worshippers, Grogar knew that the reemergence of gods was inevitable so he made laws specifically just for them to follow since they would be empowered by their worshippers, but in return, they had to take care of their worshippers and not carelessly dismiss them. It was simple really, the more a mortal asked from a god, the more a god could ask in exchange, it was a somewhat equivalent exchange so long no one broke one of the laws established by Grogar.
Grogar had not met any of the New Gods of Tambelon yet, but he felt that he would meet some of them on this trip. Really, so long none of them became like the Old Gods of Mundus he didn't care, they were free to do as they pleased. It should also be noted that the belief of worshippers only added to the gods' power and didn't affect their base power, however, their base power would decrease if they rely solely on the power gained by their worshippers.
Halfway through the meal, Cheng’s father arrived claiming he had a strange dream in which the Emperor showed up for a lunch at his home. He almost fainted again when he saw Grogar, but thanks to his wife he managed to calm down and introduce himself as Jiahao Zanshi. His nervousness seemed to have vanished when Grogar commented that the meal was delicious, then Zanshi announced full of pride that all the vegetables used to make the meal were grown on his lands by himself and his family.
This pleasant atmosphere continued until the afternoon, Grogar saw Faust entertaining the younglings with stories and her magic, Rime was doing the same with another group, Agate seemed uncomfortable, she was probably not used to interacting with younglings, it was funny to see a group of them follow her around and lastly Jun and Cheng were with another group on a nearby lake.
Cheng was without his robes, showing his slender although not athletic figure while he played with his younger siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews. Katsuo was on one of the tables doing some gestures, probably retelling one of his and Jun’s escapades on the job, some of the teenagers seemed to be making bets.
It was also possible to see many children on the park sized playground, some adolescents under the shades of nearby trees reading books or keeping an eye on the younger ones and some groups of school-age younglings playing competitive team sports on a series of playing fields and pitches made on the spacious property.
Grogar then saw Zanshi sit beside him and offer him a goblet that was too big for a rabbit.
“I thought that maybe you would want a drink,” said Zanshi, then Grogar noticed that Zanshi had a bottle of wine on the other hand and beside him was Yahui with two smaller goblets, just the right size for the rabbits. This probably wasn't the first time he explained this by the way he answered the unasked question while he poured some wine into Grogar's goblet, “That goblet is for when one of my bigger friends from the town comes for a drink. Really, that minotaur loves our wine, he even sells some of it on his restaurant.”
“Thank you,” said Grogar as he took a sip of the wine. Then he said, “it's marvelous.”
They just enjoy the silence for a while they observed the gathering of family and friends.
“Is every day like this?” asked Grogar.
“No, it’s just a family reunion for the festival tomorrow. Most of our older children have moved out of the house, some moved out of the town. I'm just glad most of them could visit us today,” answered Yahui.
“May I ask you something, Your Majesty?” asked Zanshi after he too took a sip of the wine.
“You may,” said Grogar.
“Why you made the world as it is?” asked Zanshi, which caused Grogar to raise an eyebrow. Then Zanshi elaborated, “I mean, I don't regret anything, despite the hardship I and my family faced, I’m happy. Throughout my life, I sometimes heard how things were on Mundus and I was curious. Why you made Tambelon so different and yet similar to Mundus?”
“I always believed in living with your own strength. Even before I became a mage,” said Grogar before taking another sip of wine. Then he added, “That's why I never controlled the weather or the movements of the celestial bodies, I just set them into motion after making the rules that govern them.”
“What was your life like before being a mage?” asked Yahui curious.
“What the legends tell about me?” asked Grogar.
“Well, there are many versions of your legend. Most of them just agree that you became a mage, then you somehow defeated the alicorn and draconequus pantheons before reappearing millennia later and start a war with Faust,” said Yahui with a thoughtful looked as she remembered the stories she heard while growing up.
“They also said you created the Windigos and the Umbrums,” commented Zanshi.
“Surely there is more,” said Grogar.
“Yeah, but that's just the parts they agree on,” explained Yahui.
“I see,” said Grogar as he drank the rest of the wine before he poured more. Then he said, “I used to be a farmer.”
Zanshi almost choked on his wine, after he recovered he asked, “Really?”
Grogar nodded and answered, “Had the tragedy that took my family not happened, I would never set out on my quest to tear down the Old Gods from their thrones. Maybe I would have found a mate and lived the rest of my life like any other mortal.”
Then Grogar looked at the sky and saw the moons that were starting to become visible in the late afternoon and this caused his expression to soften. Yahui saw where Grogar was looking, so she asked trying to change the subject, “Is it true that Mundus has only one sun and one moon?”
“Yes it is,” said Grogar as he continued to look at the moons.
“Then, why did you made six moons and two suns?” asked Zanshi curious.
“Funny you would ask that. The moons are a tribute to my late siblings and the suns to my late parents. I never had the chance to bury them and never knew where their souls ended up. They could be still on Mundus or reincarnated here on Tambelon or even on a random world out there. So I made the suns and moons as a reminder,” said Grogar.
“I'm sorry Your Majesty, we didn't know,” said Zanshi with a remorseful tone as his ears dropped and folded back –a sign of sadness.
“Don't be, it was a long time ago,” said Grogar as he saw the first sun starting to set in the north. Then he said, “You know, I never had the chance to name the moons and suns back then. I’m curious to know what their names are nowadays.”
“Really? Why you never named them?” asked Yahui.
“To me, it didn't matter at the time. They represented my family so I didn't feel the need to name them,” explained Grogar.
“Well, they have many names and legends surrounding them, it depends on the culture. But the most common names for the suns are Goldenpyre and Silverpyre because of their colors. The history books say they were named like this because of your death and the suns were like funeral pyres,” said Zanshi.
“I actually found that fitting, even if it's for different reasons. What about the moons?” asked Grogar after he took another sip of his wine and he also noticed that some of the guests were leaving, no surprise since it was getting late.
“The biggest moon is called Great Lord and is the one that is used to mark the passage of the months. The second biggest is called White Lady and is the one of great importance to us yuètù since many of the medicinal herbs we grow bloom at night under its light,” explained Zanshi.
“The third biggest is called Pathfinder and it has many unique markings on its surface that are used for navigation together with the stars, besides being the brightest of the moons. The fourth and fifth are called Heavenly Twins and their positions dictate the time for some festivals, ceremonies and rituals,” said Yahui excitedly.
“And the smallest moon is called Blue Chime because of its bluish tint and once every few years it is said that the magic the world rings and hums like the sound of a small bell,” said Cheng as he sat beside Grogar.
“I would never have guessed you didn't know the names of the moons, Your Majesty,” said Rime as she sat beside Zanshi and Yahui before she asked, “You could have asked, you know?”
Zanshi saw that Katsuo sat on the grass beside Jun, then the young doe smiled and sat on the kitsune’s lap before nuzzling his chest. Then Katsuo made a small fire by flicking his tail, which they used to warm themselves.
“Sometimes I worry about them,” said Zanshi without looking away from the couple.
“Why?” asked Cheng and Rime at the same time, Rime asked out of curiosity and Cheng out of worry.
“Nothing against Katsu, but he is a kitsune. They can live for up to two centuries if they don't acquire their second tail while the average lifespan of a yuètù is half a century and because of this I worry about them and the rest of my family, especially considering my age,” confessed Zanshi.
“You don't have to worry about that so soon, your life force is quite strong. Your life expectancy is above average,” said Grogar before drinking the rest of the wine in his goblet. Then he added, “She too has a very strong life force and if what I saw is right then she could reach a century of age.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said Zanshi just before Katsu and Jun approached the group.
“Hey dad, we better go it's getting late and the kits need to sleep. See you tomorrow at the festival,” said Jun before Katsu took a small case from his pocket.
From the case, Katsu took a small marble, before crushing it in his right paw. Then a magic circle appeared beneath Katsu and Jun.
“Bye-bye,” said Katsu before he and Jun disappeared with the circle.
That was one of the most useful and modern conveniences, Spell Beads. Small marble-like objects “loaded” with a single spell, they could be used by anyone and they could be purchased at any licensed store. Of course those capable of creating them also need a license to manufacture the normal beads and an additional license was needed to create the more dangerous variety that was used by the army and law enforcement.
“Kids and their fancy magic,” said Zanshi before getting up, then he went to where the group of younglings was being entertained by Faust.
“It must be very difficult to take care of so many kits,” said Rime remembering her own experiences with her chicks/cubs.
“No, not really,” said Yahui and Cheng at the same time.
“Really? How so?” asked Rime.
“Well, in large families like this one it's normal to be like a daycare were the older siblings take care of the younger ones. Actually, we only have three Iron Rules: Family is family; Help where help is needed; Kits come first;” said Yahui.
“Doesn't that complicate things?” asked Rime to this day having difficulty grasping how different their family interactions were. To most gryphonesses the thought of not taking care of their own offspring(s) themselves was almost alien, they would, however, let the older siblings, another family member or a close friend watching over the young ones very reluctantly.
“Not really, we are pretty good at knowing who is related to who and how so it's not much of a problem,” said Yahui as she saw Zanshi lead the kits back inside, so she said, “Well, I better help my husband.”
“We should go as well. Thanks for the awesome day mom,” said Cheng as he hugged his mother.
Not long after that, Faust rejoined the group and after the farewells Grogar teleported them back to Cheng's house. When they arrived on the front they saw Aron sitting on Ida’s lap and leaning his head on her shoulder as they watched the second sunset on the south and the stars were starting to become visible.
“Hi Aron, Ida. It seems both of you had a good time,” said Cheng as he unlocked the door.
“Yeah, how about you?” asked Aron as he laid his head on his mate’s breasts.
“Had a good time with my family. I really needed some time off,” said Cheng as he opened the door.
Sometime later they all settled on the house, before going outside to watch the stars, Cheng and Rime wanted to do some meditation before sleeping, Grogar wanted to just reminisce while looking at the stars since he knew the story of every single one of them and Faust wanted to be beside Grogar while Agate decided to retire for the night after a tiring day evading determined kits that thought they were playing hide and seek, her skills were put to the test against the hearing of many young bunnies.
Then Grogar and Faust felt a presence, Grogar looked to the right and apparently there was nothing there, but he knew better.
“You can't fool me, you know?” said Grogar as he laid on the ground looking at the stars while using Faust's lap as a pillow.
The air at Grogar's right started to distort until a figure was left standing, she was 5ft 6in tall had white fur and was wearing a light blue short kimono and black shorts. However, the most important fact was that she was a kitsune, not just any kitsune but one with ten tails.
“As expected of you, I glad you have returned master. Allow me to be the first of the New Gods of Tambelon to welcome you,” said the kitsune as she sat beside Grogar.
Grogar looked into the blue eyes of the divine kitsune and for a moment the image of a young kitsune warrior with the same eyes overlapped in his mind.
“It's good to see you again, Inari,” said Grogar.
“I’m honored that you remembered my name,” said Inari. Then she looked at the alicorn and said in a neutral tone, “Hello Faust.”
“Hello Inari,” said Faust greeting the New God.
“How could I not remember you? I still remember that young kitsune warrior leading my soldiers into battle, the same kitsune that was taught by me. The fact you became a New God is a confirmation of the potential I saw in you,” said Grogar before looking at Inari’s tails, so he asked, “Ten tails, huh?”
“Yeah, I’m the only kitsune on Tambelon with ten tails, besides being the main goddess of the vulpine folk in general,” said Inari proudly with an almost cocky attitude.
“Is there anyone from that time still alive?” asked Grogar.
“Let’s see, the Old Gods that migrated to Tambelon when the portal to Mundus was still open plus those that became New Gods from before your death and the immortals that followed you at the time. If you include me and Faust, about forty people,” answered Inari.
“I see,” said Grogar just as Rime and Cheng finished their meditation.
“Lady Inari!!” shouted Cheng in surprise when he noticed the presence of the goddess. Then he quickly added, “I wasn't expecting a visitor. Might I offer some tea?”
Rime also noticed the presence of the goddess but managed to contain her surprise.
“Nah, I’m about to leave anyway,” said Inari to Cheng before looking at Grogar, “Some other New Gods might come to visit either later tonight or tomorrow during the festival. You should visit us on Aarukamma in the future.”
“Before you go, I have to say that today I met an interesting kitsune. He has potential,” said Grogar.
“You will have to be more specific, nowadays almost all kitsune can trace their lineage back to me with the exception of the older ones that are still alive,” said Inari as she opened a portal in front of her.
“Just a curiosity,” said Grogar.
“Well then, until next time,” said Inari before walking through the portal.
“I'm going to retire for the night,” said Rime.
“Agreed,” said Cheng before yawning.
Next afternoon
Grogar and the others were going through the town since Cheng, Jun and Katsu were showing the city to them. Right now they saw many stands selling souvenirs for those that came to the town for the festival.
Grogar and Faust being who they were gathered a lot of attention, but they didn't let that interfere with their visit. The city's square was decorated with many ribbons and lanterns that would glow once the suns went down. But the highlight of the festival would be the fireworks once the two biggest moons aligned in the middle of the night sky, their way to celebrate and thank for this year's harvest.
“Chief!!” shouted Jun bring Grogar out of his introspection.
Katsu didn't show much reaction except for the tensing of his posture while Jun approached a tall minotauress in blue uniform, the same one Jun wore when they met her but with the sleeves rolled up showing her muscular arms. The minotauress was 8ft 9in tall, had a dark gray fur coat, a pair of horns coming out of the upper part on her head’s sides, the tip of her fingers had an almost black substance covering them –a layer of natural protection present on the hands of races with hooves– and without gloves, the only part visible that was darker than her fur was her muzzle, eyes and short mane in a military looking "flattop" cut, which were black.
“Jun, I thought today was your and your partner's off day,” said the minotauress and if how Jun address to her was any indication she was also the chief of the local law enforcement.
“Yeah, just showing the town to my brother’s clients that are visiting for the festival tonight,” said Jun.
“I see,” said the Chief.
Not long after the group approached, while she had a look of annoyance when she saw Katsu, that immediately passed when she saw Grogar and Faust.
“Your Majesty, Lady Faust,” said the Chief as she placed her right fist on her chest and straighten her back just like Jun did when she met Grogar, this was Tambelon's version of a salute. Grogar made so that soldiers would salute like this instead of kneeling to make sure they were always ready for battle if needed.
“Greetings,” said Grogar and Faust at the same time.
“I'm right to assume that you are the head of the local law enforcement?” asked Grogar as a formality.
“Yes, Chief of Police Niki Nomiki,” said Niki.
“At ease,” said Grogar before looking around the city's square where he spotted other officers helping visitors or just keeping the lookout for any troublemakers.
“I hope our little town is of your liking,” said Niki.
“It is, it’s also somewhat what nostalgic,” said Grogar.
Whatever Niki was about to say was interrupted by the appearance of the small magical circle of the communication spell over her left ear, she tapped the circle with her left index and index finger.
“Niki speaking,” said Niki to whoever was on the other side, then she answered, “I’ll be on my way.”
Then she deactivated the communication spell before turning to Grogar and Faust.
“I apologize for the interruption, but I have a meeting with the mayor,” said Niki.
“Then don't let me keep you,” said Grogar before Niki saluted and left.
“She seems to take her duties very seriously,” said Faust.
“Yeah, Katsu tries to make her ‘loosen up’, much to her annoyance he always tries on duty. Actually, she can be pretty laid back off the clock, I met her once on the park with her wife and calves, sweet little things,” said Jun before she looked and saw that Katsu wasn't with them and after looking for a bit she saw him with Cheng and Rime looking at some souvenirs.
“She is just keeping her professional and personal lives apart then,” concluded Faust.
“Probably,” said Grogar noticing that Agate remained close to him, so he asked her, “Don't you want to buy some souvenirs?”
“There is no need for that my lord, besides I was never the type to collect trinkets anyway,” answered Agate, that was unusual but not unheard of since most dragonkin had the urge to hoard something, granted it didn't need to be physical and tangible objects for them to collect. Some could hoard knowledge or something similar, it depended on their upbringing.
Grogar also noticed that not far from the city's square was a temple and by the lack of distinct markings and symbols it was probably a shared temple were you prayed to multiple gods. Speaking of gods Grogar could feel the presence of four gods in this town, while it was unusual it was not unheard of for gods to come and celebrate with mortals, but they were probably disguised. If they were here for the festival than sooner or later Grogar might encounter them and by the way Faust looked around she also felt their presences.
Anyway, throughout the rest of the afternoon and into the night they enjoyed the festival, most of the festivities happened later and because of the multicultural background of the town, they were quite varied. They especially enjoyed the different types of traditional music, it was quite amusing when Rime dragged Agate to enjoy the music and it took a while for her to dance. Even more amazing was when Rime dragged Cheng for a dance, but they were far from the only couple with a very discernable height difference and species, even Grogar and Faust joined the fun.
They also discovered that Katsuo was a terrible dancer, but he still showed some moves with Jun on the city square. Throughout the night the six moons climbed the night sky, around midnight the Great Lord and the White Lady were almost aligned, the closest comparison that Grogar could make from his human life was a solar eclipse but with two moons instead of a sun and moon.
The music and dancing stopped as they prepared the fireworks to be launch at the moment the two moons aligned, Grogar and his group were sitting around a small table enjoying some drinks and snacks. Before long the fireworks illuminated the skies when the White Lady moved in front of the Great Lord, the result was the white glow of the second moon with the edges of sandy brown from the Great Lord. After that more music and dancing followed along with many games, they all opted to rejoin the festivities with the exception of Faust and Grogar who remained on the table.
“Amazing isn't it?” asked Grogar.
“What do you mean master?” asked Faust as she saw the look of nostalgia on Grogar.
“To just enjoy the little things in life,” clarified Grogar.
“Yes, it is,” answered Faust.
They just enjoy the festival until they felt two presences approached them.
“Excuse me, may we sit with the two of you?” asked a female voice.
“Of course dear,” said Faust as she turned to greet the two gods.
Grogar turned to also greet them, but as soon as his eyes were on the two they widen in surprise.
“It can't be,” said Echo in Grogar’s mind.
New Grogar himself was overwhelmed by emotions from Old Grogar's memories, his eyes gazed beyond the physical realm, beyond the layers of their souls and into their core where he saw something that his old self just gave up long ago in finding.
“Lena, Rina,” said Echo in the mind of an equally shocked Grogar. The two gods before him were the reincarnation of Old Grogar's sisters.
Author's Note
Just to clarify, Old Gods are any gods that appeared before the Great Calamity/Cataclysm on Mundus and New Gods came after. They could be born as gods like Faust or they ascended like Grogar, regardless of that New Gods continued to appear even after his death. Yes, I based them on the New Gods from DC that were created by Jack Kirby, but the emergence of New Gods after the death of the Old Ones is common in many mythologies it's just more evident in DC nomenclature.
Also the pocket universe created by Grogar operates in a similar way to the universe of Elder Scrolls' Mortal Plane ironically named Mundus. Tambelon is a geocentric system with the main world –called Tambelon– in its center with the moons and planets orbiting around it. The suns and stars are placed on the inner surface of the bubble that the geocentric system floats inside it.
There is also different Dimensional Layers or Planes Of Existence on this pocket universe like in Magic the Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons or like the Planes of Oblivion or Oblivion Realms from Elder Scrolls that may or may not be ruled by a god, Grogar as the demiurge of Tambelon is the only one who has unrestricted access to all of these places. Think of this as a isolated Mini–Multiverse inside the Displaced Multiverse like the Forgotten Realm setting of D&D or the Great Beyond from Pathfinder with Grogar being a Planewalker .
Most –but not all– names will be from the culture that inspired the races. Ex: kitsune~japanese; yuètù~chinese; minotaur and centaur~mixture of greek and latin; dragons and their offshoots~draconics from different RPGs; Gryphons~mostly european; etc.
Inari's name comes from a japanese deity of the same name, but her multiple tails are not indicative of her godhood.
Yes, Yahui and Zanshi a.k.a. Jun and Cheng's parents are based on Bonnie and Stu Hopps a.k.a. Judy's parents, actually their names have a mostly similar meaning to their expy here on my story.Incantation Orb from the anime Seven Deadly Sins(七つの大罪, Nanatsu no Taizai) –Spell Beads is actually a alternative name for these item– and Materia from Final Fantasy VII, they are however marble sized.
Aarukamma – is the name I choose for a city where the gods reside. The name comes from:
As for the names for Grogar's sisters, since Grogar sounded closer to Griogair which is a form of the name Gregor, which is a short form for Gregory, that and the fact that by the shape of his horns Grogar is most likely a Altai Mountain Goat I did some research in european names and I decided to use:shepherd0821 's other artworks.
6. The retelling of old stories
Grogar ignored the lights of the fireworks as he took the image of the two goddesses before him and by the similar appearance, it was obvious that they were twins. Twins had a very powerful spiritual connection with one another and if that connection wasn't broken during their lives then there was a possibility that one may follow the other’s soul after death. The fact that Grogar’s sisters managed to stay together through who knows how many lifetimes was astonishing and Grogar didn't care if it was by coincidence or design, he was just happy to see them again.
The two were in the shape of two black goats wearing a simple yet elegant grey tunic-like collarless dresses with a root-like pattern and with the side seams opened below the waist-line, that was over a loose pajama-like trousers and to finish they had a large sash wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder and baring the midriff, which was very evident by the fact that they were both pregnant.
The differences between the two were the patterns on the sashes and the fact that the sash was over the right shoulder of one while the other one had it over her left shoulder as well as the pattern on the sashes themselves, besides the color that matched their eyes. The one that had the sash over her right shoulder had a dark orange and brown diamond-like pattern while the one with the sash over her left shoulder had a green and brown pattern similar to the leaves and barks of a tree.
Grogar couldn't help but compare them to the sisters he remembered, their fur that was now black was once white much like his own was, they were taller than he remenbered, being around 7ft tall, which was taller than the 5ft 7in they were when they were alive and their horns were also bigger than in their previous lives, they were still simple curved backward horns just like before just bigger. Also despite their height and pregnancies, they had pleasantly full and motherly figures, probably the result of a good and long life and as well as previous pregnancies.
“Master?” asked Faust worried by the fact that Grogar remained silent after he first laid his eyes on the new arrivals. Thankfully the question seemed to be enough to bring him back to reality, he placed his right hand over his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Then Faust asked, “Are you alright, master?”
“Yes, Faust. It's just old memories and dreams,” said Grogar before looking at the two goddesses sitting near him and Faust, so he said, “What were you saying?”
“Oh, these are two of my former students. The one with the orange sari is Sheol and the one with the green sari is Shuma, they are twin goddesses that ascended together with two other students of mine,” said Faust introducing the two New Goddesses.
“It's an honor to finally meet you, my lord,” said Shuma as she leaned her head forward a bit.
“Excuse us for not being able to show our respect properly,” said Sheol as she too leaned forward a bit.
“Nonsense, there is no need to bow, especially in your condition,” said Grogar before he reached out and gently placed his right hand on Shuma’s left cheek and his left on Sheol’s right cheek.
“My lord?” asked Faust when she saw this action, however she became a little alarmed when she saw tears come out of his eyes, but she was even more alarmed when she saw Shuma and Sheol cry as well and by the looked of confusion in the two New Goddesses they didn't know why they were crying.
“Have... we…” Shuma trailing off as she looked into Grogar's tear-filled eyes.
“...met ...before?” Sheol completed the question as she too was overwhelmed by emotions.
“Yes, in another place… in another time… in another world… in another life,” said Grogar with tears running down his face, but despite that, his voice and his face didn't waver. The two goddesses just leaned into the hands of their lord, but for some reason, they felt a sense of nostalgia, safety and familiarity that they couldn't place.
Grogar just used his thumbs to carefully and gently wipe away the tears of their faces before pulling back his hands, a quick and faint flash of red light came from his horns and the tears on his face disappeared. He looked around and noticed that Faust placed a discreet illusion to hide this private moment and he was thankful for that.
“How?” asked Shuma after she too cleaned her face with a quick spell, evident by the brief green glow from her horns.
“I don't know how many lives it has been from your perspective, but it was before the Great Cataclysm, before the Fall of the Old Gods and before the Draconequus-Alicorn War in the Old World. I was there when both of you were born, I was there to see both of you grow and I was there to make your graves, both of you were and still are very precious to me,” said Grogar with a distant look on his face as he looked at the moons in the night sky, more specifically the Heavenly Twins.
“If I may ask, what were we to you my lord?” asked Sheol after recovering her composure as well and did a quick spell to clean her face as well, evident by the brief glow on her horns.
“My sisters,” said Grogar simply.
While they were shocked at the moment he said that both of them also saw a flash in their minds and along with it the image of a tall white goat much like Grogar but with light grey almost white fur and green eyes instead of dark blue fur and red eyes, he was wearing simple farmer clothes and he was looking at them with a carefree smile. However just as quickly as it came the image disappeared and they were back in the real world.
“Your sisters? From your original family?” asked Shuma.
“The same one you dedicated the suns and moons to?” asked Sheol directly after her sister.
“Yes, the very same ones. It fills this old heart with happiness to met both of you again, even if you don't remember that life,” said Grogar with the same carefree smile as they saw in their memories.
Faust too was shocked by that fact, she never studied reincarnation in depth but even she had some idea the enormity and vastness that was the difficulty of finding a family member of a past life, a difficulty that only stacked with each life lived.
The four of them spend a great deal of the night just talking, for Grogar to just sit and talk to a family member was something he missed and they talked about the simple things such as the lives they lived before and after their ascension and things of that nature. Incidentally, he learned that his previous assumptions were right, these were far from their first pregnancies because they were fertility deities.
Grogar learned that the reason they were taller than average for goats in this life was that unlike in their previous life they had minotaur ancestry in their family tree, different from Grogar who was just unnaturally tall for a goat –back then at least, nowadays it was more common. He also learned that the other two goddesses that made up their quartet were their sisters –in this incarnation– as well as another set of twins, however, they were minotaurs instead of goats but with the same black fur, the four goddesses were born as slaves a few years after Faust’s awakening.
However they didn't have a reason to complain, their owner was kind and didn't abuse or mistreat them, by their tone of voice Grogar wondered if their owner was their sire as well, but he didn't press the subject further, besides it would be pointless to dwell on something that happened millennia ago. Anyway, he also learned that they received basic education, but the four of them were sold when they reached their teenage years not long after their mother passed away.
The four sisters were originally bought to be part of the staff on the Imperial Palace, eventually, they became the handmaids of Faust. The alicorn saw potential on the four, so she taught them and eventually they ascended. Faust was like a second mother to the four of them and she became quite protective when they gather the attention of gods and mortals alike, but eventually, they settled with another quartet of gods, the sons of two of Old Grogar's old friends that became New Gods while he was still alive.
Grogar retold some of the events of their previous lives and it seemed to jog some memories, they were however just a few flashes and images, nothing more. While he wished for them to remember their lives as his sisters he was satisfied with the fact that he found them in the first place, to ask for more than that was foolish and unrealistic. He narrated some of his adventures before and after the end of the Draconequus-Alicorn War in the Old World, after his first death until his second death by the hands of Luna on Mundus and after that as well.
At the mention of Luna’s name Faust expressed curiosity in knowing what happened to her second oldest daughter –as far as she was concerned her former students were her children as well– since she couldn't find her anywhere and she tried many times ever since her master returned and taught a scrying spell that was capable of reaching Mundus. Then Grogar informed her what happened to the younger alicorn and needless to say that Faust was disappointed with her eldest daughter.
To take Faust's mind of the subject, Grogar invited her to dance and the sisters too urged their former teacher and second mother to enjoy the festivities. While they ordered many snacks, they were both pregnant after all and by their size as well as their life-force both were carrying multiple children, again no surprise there since they were both fertility deities.
Eventually, they went their separate ways with the promise of meeting each other again, it was clear to Grogar that some memories of their past lives as his sisters resurfaced, but it saddened him to know that they will never recover the great majority of those memories.
Even so, it was to be expected, Grogar too had reincarnated in a different way, he might be a different soul but he had within him the same memories of Old Grogar. He was just glad that he had the opportunity to meet them again and he knew it was borderline impossible, but he hoped to be able to meet the rest of his family again even if was just wishful thinking, both the ones from Old Grogar's life and the ones from his human life.
Grogar and Faust enjoyed the rest of the festival before they too retired for the night while the rest of the group decided to stay a bit longer. He also expressed to Faust his curiosity in meeting the older twins that helped the reincarnation of his sisters, besides he was curious to meet another of the “Children of Faust”, which was an actual group of deities that were taught/raised by Faust in one way or another over the millennia that she waited for Grogar's return. Faust just smiled and gave him a knowing look before accompanying Grogar back to Cheng's house.
Three weeks later, morning
The party woke up from their respective rooms in the shared magical tent, they camped near the road they were following since they passed through the crossroad in the center of the continent, they, of course, headed north in their trip to Zerzura. The forest had by now turned into grassland with mountains in the distance and it was possible to occasionally encounter both monsters as well as other travelers, eventually, they reached the base of one of those mountains where they set up camp.
Anyway, outside of the tent we found Faust preparing breakfast while Grogar was topless and only wearing his pants, he was sparring with Agate, who was wearing just a sports bra and shorts. It was just a friendly spar as a morning exercise while they were on their way to Zerzura.
Cheng was sitting on a log waiting for breakfast and by his heavy eyelids, it was clear he was almost asleep. Rime was helping Faust with breakfast and not far from them was a new member of their party who was also helping Faust with breakfast, Katsuo.
The kitsune and Jun decided to join the group when they expressed their desire to go out and travel for a little bit, luckily for them they were on vacation so it wasn't a problem, but they have to go back to work in about a month.
Speaking of Jun, she was not far from Grogar and Agate while they were sparring, she was wearing workout clothes and by the fact that she was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily it was clear that she was resting after her morning exercise, which was also a spar with Grogar.
The fighting skills of both females improved tremendously by trying to survive against Grogar in a fight, granted he held back a great deal of his strength and he wasn't using magic, just martial arts. A skill set that Old Grogar developed by disciplining his body just as he disciplined his mind, that combined with him witnessing many different universes before finding his heir only expanded his knowledge.
Of course New Grogar wasn't arrogant enough to admit that he would be able to beat a God of War with martial arts alone, but he could hold his own for a while, however Grogar strength was on magic after all, it was actually more surprising that he never claimed the title of God of Magic.
Grogar defended a roundhouse kick from his right by using his forearms if he was anyone else he might have fractured his arm, dragons and their offshoots were after all known for both their strength as well as hardness of their scales.
The Lord of Tambelon was prepared however, he hit Agate’s right knee to make her lose her balance before placing his left hand on her throat. When she was on the ground he moved to punch her but stopped inches from her face.
“You lose,” said Grogar. Then Agate just sighed at the fact that she lost again, then Grogar got up before helping the blue qilin up and say, “You fought well, these morning sparring matches are really helping my body get back into shape.”
After Grogar said that he started to stretch his muscles, which showed his well-defined musculature to the two females and while Agate was blushing at this display –her dragon blood appreciated power and strength after all– Jun was just ogling her lord. Jun saw no problem in just looking, besides polygamous/polyamorous and interspecies relationships of any kind were quite common because of the number of different races as well as their own female-to-male ratio that could vary drastically, besides she had a thing for bigger males.
“We better get going, breakfast should be ready soon,” said Grogar before motioning for Jun and Agate to follow. Agate came back from her daydream and Jun shrugged before they followed Grogar back to the camp.
The trio joined the rest of the party as they sat around the campfire, Faust, Rime and Katsuo served the food. Today they were having meat and bread, the meat was from a wild alligator from a nearby swamp. Despite the fact that Faust, Grogar, Cheng and Jun were herbivores but they still ate meat occasionally, just not as often as the carnivores like Agate, Rime and Katsuo and they would occasionally eat vegetables or fruits but not as often as the herbivores, technically most sentient beings could be considered omnivores.
Faust sat beside Grogar on the same log, Rime sat beside Cheng who was beside Agate and the three of them were at Grogar's left on another log, Katsuo sat on a towel he placed on the floor while Jun sat beside him. They all had a good breakfast under the mountain's shadow and after breakfast, they chatted for awhile until one certain question was asked.
“My lord, we know you created Kamagati, but who created Aurbis?” asked Katsuo referring to the universes that Tambelon and Mundus existed respectively.
“No one actually knows,” said Cheng on reflex.
“Actually I know the legend about creation, but as far as I know only two Old Gods are old enough to remember that era and one of them is actually here on Kamagati while the other still on Aurbis,” said Grogar.
“Really?” asked Katsuo as he tried to remember the name of the oldest god he knew, but there were many gods –both old and new– on Kamagati so it was a bit difficult, especially if it was a reclusive one that doesn't care about the attention of mortals or even other gods.
“You don't mean… Yog-Yith,” said Cheng remembering the name of the Old God of Knowledge.
“Yog-Yith?” asked Jun and Katsuo at the same time not knowing that particular god.
“Indeed, Yog-Yith is a god more well known among mages because of his library, some say it's infinite but regardless of that he is a god that does not care about worship and he lets mortals come and go from his realm as they please, provided that they can reach it in the first place and survive the trip back,” explained Faust having met that god only once when he visited the Imperial Palace not long after she awakened, not personally however since he communicated with her through an avatar.
“Yeah, many mages’ life's goal is to reach that library,” commented Rime being a mage herself, even if she didn't particularly care about that library.
“Imagine all the knowledge there,” said Cheng dreamily.
“Indeed, my old teacher never cared for the attention of either mortals or gods, he only cared about the pursuit of knowledge. Anyway, still want to hear the legend?” asked Grogar and Katsuo nodded, it also returned Cheng from his daydream and caught the attention of Faust when Grogar mentioned "my old teacher". Being raised by gods she didn't know many legends, especially considering the fact the alicorns were very egocentric and thus dismissive of what did not concern them, that included anything that came before them.
Seeing that Grogar had everyone's attention he started, “In the beginning there was nothing, thus time and space had no meaning. One could say that it was a Void of Voids, then time began and like a flower blooming came the first gods, simply called the Original Ones. At some point, they began to fill this space with their creations and for an unmeasurable amount of time there was untold prosperity, but eventually, a war was waged between the Original Ones themselves and their creations.”
Grogar paused to let the group process what was heard.
“What happened next?” asked Jun with honest curiosity shining in her eyes, she felt like a kit again hearing a story.
Grogar smile at that attitude, it was kinda refreshing to see the usually honest and open disposition from the young yuètù, so Grogar continued, “Eventually that world was torn apart, but some Original Ones survived along with the beings created by them. They remade the world and gave it a new name, however soon after its creation, New Gods started to appear and the Original Ones became the Old Gods.”
“That sounds familiar,” said Agate.
“It should, but you will understand soon enough,” said Grogar and everyone nodded, so he continued, “Unlike before time and space were fractured, thus multiple interconnected yet isolated worlds were born and they will continue to exist so long the “original world” from which they spawned from continues to exist as well, much like a flower that bloomed the whole will die at once. However just like before the original world crumbled with war and was once again remade, the New Gods joined the ranks of the Old Gods and new New Gods came into existence. Each cycle of (re)creation and destruction is called a Kalpa. ”
"So, Old Gods are any deity that survived the destruction of its world beyond its Kalpa," said Jun to herself.
“So, existence is cyclical,” concluded Katsuo.
“Yes and no. I don't know how many Kalpas have happened but I know that this only applies to our 'corner’ of the multiverse,” said Grogar catching the attention of Cheng.
“You said ‘multiverse’, does that means that those other worlds are alternative versions of Mundus? And what do you mean by 'corner’?” asked Cheng.
“Yes, I did. As for the second question imagine a bubble, that's a universe. Now imagine that bubble surrounded by identically sized bubbles and all of those inside a bigger bubble, that's our universal cluster. Just outside of that bubble is another smaller bubble near the surface, that's Kamagati. All of that inside an even bigger bubble, that's our local multiverse. Outside of it is the Void of Voids or Overvoid, also known simply as The Void were we find other multiverses which make up a greater multiverse making up the two Displaced Multiverses” said Grogar, although the last part was something he just thought and didn't voice.
“I don't get it,” said Katsuo.
“I can explain what I understood to you later and I can ask Cheng later to explain the parts I didn’t get either,” said Jun, much to Cheng’s chagrin.
“Don’t make decisions without consulting me,” said Cheng to himself in his mind crying anime tears.
Agate noticed Cheng’s distress and wondered if this was what was like to have siblings, Rime too noticed that and just giggle at the younger yuètù as she remembered her own time with her siblings.
While that was happening Grogar and Faust had a thoughtful look, however, both of them were thinking about different subjects.
Faust was remembering the end of the previous kalpa or the Great Cataclysm, it was a disaster of such epic proportions that she couldn't describe accurately, it was like the sky and earth crack and lost their meaning, she and the gods that didn’t flee to the “outside” pulled together what pieces they could and save as many creatures as they could, which resulted in the version of Mundus Prime that currently exist, where she and Grogar waged war and where they died before being resurrected on Kamagati, or more specifically the Royal Palace in the Capital of the Tambelonian Empire.
Grogar, on the other hand, was contemplating about the displaced, interacting with them was a distinct possibility. he was also contemplating if he should create a token and spread it throughout the multiverse.
Anyway, after resting for a while they collected everything and departed after Grogar, Jun and Agate took a bath on a nearby river. Over the course of the day they climbed the mountain, that routine repeat itself for the next two days as they made their way to the top and when they arrived they saw their first goal, it was just a giant accumulation of clouds in the distance. However they could use a simple spell to allow them to see further, that or use a spyglass to see above the clouds floating above the center of this desert, but no matter the means used Zerzura was still breathtaking.
Looking below they saw a desert with the chain of mountains they were on was the border between the arid climate and the green grassland behind them. Also on the top of the mountain was a temple carved from the very rock of the mountain below, the party was standing on a path made of stone while looking at the temple. It wasn't unreasonable for them to find a temple on the top of a mountain especially considered that it not that far from the city known for being inhabited mostly by flyers.
Grogar was curious to meet the deity or deities that this temple is dedicated to and by the architecture it was either an Old God(s) or a New God(s) with Old God heritage, now for a deity to enter the temple of another was like entering on a house you didn't own without permission, so it was a sign of respect to announce one’s presence and wait for a response.
Grogar and Faust let their energy loose for a moment, causing the air around them to shake and it almost overwhelmed the other members of the group, but that passed quickly. It didn't take long for a portal to open in front of them and from the portal, a figure stepped out.
“Oh, it's certainly been awhile since we saw each other in person,” commented the figure with a feminine but strong voice.
“It certainly has, Tia,” said Grogar.
Author's Note
Sorry for the delay, I had a mild case of writer's block, besides I was also busy in real life and I did a lot of research on my free time.
Regarding the name of the universe I chose:Desire Realm ) which is one of the lowest “layer” of Buddhist Cosmology and is made up of six Gati(Domains) inhabited by different creatures doomed to constantly reincarnation because of karma, its more well known as Samsara . I chose the name because desire is what motivated Grogar from the beginning. A desire that Old Grogar managed to cast aside in order to "move on" to the next existence, essentially he passed his shackles to his heir.
I also decided to go with Aurbis for the universe that Mundus exist in, keeping with the naming scheme based on Elder Scrolls.
The names and appearance of the twins goddesses were references to Shub-Niggurath from Cthulhu Mythos also known as Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Youngs who is also a deity of fertility. Also the two have a Type 4 anthro body just like Grogar. The clothes they wear is based on Indian clothes, more specifically a type of cloth called Punjabi Salwar Kameez.Sheol -Nugganoth is an alternative name for Shub-Niggurath and possible inspiration for Sheogorath from Elder Scrolls.Shuma th-Ghun is an alternative name for Shub-Niggurath and possible inspiration for Shuma-Gorath from Marvel Comics.
The God Of Knowledge Yog-Yith is actually two references to Cthulhu Mythos. To Yog-Sothoth, which is a god associated with knowledge, and the Great Race Yith, which is said to be the most knowledgeable alien race in the cosmo and they also have a huge library beyond comprehension.
The Cosmology was based on a combination of the Cosmology from DC Comics, Buddhism and Elder Scrolls. Mundus Prime is in the center of that multiverse with a set number of alternative version around it, with Kamagati located on a superior sphere like the Sphere of Gods or the Monitor Sphere in the DC Multiverse while the Source Wall is the barrier between this Local/Mini Multiverse and the Displaced Multiverse(s) with the Void being the equivalent to DC's Overvoid. Also, unlike DC and more like Marvel each universe has its own afterlife(s) instead of sharing those domains.Buddhism(kalpa) and Elder Scrolls(kalpa) , kalpa means eon in sanskrit and it's actually used on those two Cosmology to measure such cycles. Kamagati like the Forth World from DC exist outside of that cycle and has its own cycle. And as for the Creation Myth I took inspiration of the Elder Scrolls myth and the Forth World myth.
Also for those that are curious about magic click here to check my blog.
Can anyone goes who the goddess on the end is? No, it is not Celestia or a alternative version of her.
7. View from above the clouds.
Grogar looked at the Old Goddess before him, she was one of the few beings that could claim to be older than him, she came from the Kalpa before his if he wasn't mistaken. She was a 9ft tall and thin anthro raven like being, actually she would be taller than Grogar if was not for the fact that she had a hunched posture and her long neck was lowered, her head was almost entirely bird-like with a great beak protruding forward from where the mouth and nose would be otherwise.
The Raven Goddess was wearing a golden headdress, a blue robe and golden with long sleeves but with openings in the back for her large feathered black wings and long enough to cover her legs leaving only her three bird-like black talons visible while hiding the back talon, her hands were similar to the talons on her feet but smaller and with five fingers in a more familiar hand configuration and one of this hand like talons was holding a black staff with two wing-like adornments and a green jewel in its end.
This was Tia the Raven Goddess of Death and Knowledge, also one of Grogar's oldest friends and one Yog-Yith’s librarians, almost all gods associated with knowledge were Yog-Yith’s librarians since he was the oldest of them.
“It's good to see you that you have awakened again young master,” said Tia as she looked at Grogar before her glowing eyes gazed at the party before settling on Faust and the way Tia inclined her head it gave the impression of a sneer. Then she said, “Why do you keep that alicorn with you? In my opinion, she should have died in one their Ivory Palaces,” then she pointed to Agate before continuing, “That child of Tiamat and Engur would be a better companion.”
“I don't remember needing to have to explain my actions to you,” said Grogar simply.
“Indeed you don't, I was merely expressing my opinion,” said Tia before looking at the two yuètù, the gryphoness and the kitsune. Then she said, “At least these mortals are a better company. Which reminds me my beloved would really like to see you again.”
After that Tia hit the blunt end of the staff on the ground and the sound it produced was similar to a bell. Not long after another portal opened and a group of anthropomorphic ravens similar to Tia walked out and the only visible differences were the robes and ornaments they wore.
One, in particular, looked like a slightly bigger version of Tia with red and gold robes, only the clothes and the size being visible differences between the two, the others, however, were slightly smaller but had a greater diversity in design, both the clothes and accessories, and their color but all of them were ravens like Tia.
“Young master!” shouted the bigger raven in red robes happily using a clearly male voice while the smaller ones knelt before Grogar recognizing who he was despite never seeing him before.
“Hello Ta'xet,” said Grogar to the bigger raven.
Ta'xet another Raven God of Death and Knowledge also Tia’s mate and the father of the other raven gods that came through the portal, a group known as The Lords and Ladies of Change. They were a group of gods that helped guide souls through the cycle of reincarnation inside Kamagati, they were more prominent in the Birdfolk’s culture than any other.
The Elder Raven seemed to be happy to see Grogar until his eyes landed on Faust, then immediately a scythe blade came out of his staff and he disappeared. A clang was heard and everybody turned to the source of the sound with the exception of Grogar and Tia. The scythe blade was stopped inches from Faust's neck by blades and tentacles made of shadow holding the Elder Raven in place.
“Why have you stopped me young master?” asked Ta'xet.
“I would appreciate if you don't do that again,” said Grogar ignoring the ravens’ question.
“Why? She should have died with the rest of her kind!” shouted Ta'xet.
“It matters not, she belongs to me now,” said Grogar before throwing Ta'xet back to his original place.
With a grace and fluidity that betrayed his appearance, Ta'xet did a flip and landed on his feet as the blade disappeared.
“Oh! Young master, don't let yourself be deceived by her sweet words! I know you are a caring and compassionate ruler, but she will hurt you like all alicorns of old!” shouted Ta'xet.
“Here he goes again,” said Tia as she placed her left hand over her eyes –her version of a facepalm.
“How dare you poison young master’s mind,” said Ta'xet in frustration before being hit in the head by Tia’s staff, it was enough force to crack the stone floor but he lost consciousness.
“I'm sorry young master, had I known that my mate would react like this I wouldn't have called him,” said Tia as she grabbed the back of the neck ornament of Ta'xet and threw him at her children, who were currently standing and witnessing their father’s less than stellar moment.
Two ravens with gray robes were holding their father, the only difference between the two was that one had more armor.
The gray-robed raven with more armor asked, “Um, what just happened?”
“Well Munin, your father is rather… ‘overprotective’ when it concerns the young master ever since he studied in Lord Yog-Yith's library and Ta'xet’s… um, ‘appreciation’ only grew when he heard that young master was responsible for the fall of the Alicorn Pantheon. Ta'xet was so distraught when we couldn't find him anywhere on Aurbis, but he seemingly gained new life when young master called upon us to help in his crusade, only for him to die again, which caused Ta'xet’s hatred for alicorns of old to be almost irrational at this point,” explained Tia.
“It's hard to imagine that father would act like this, normally he is so calm and collected,” said the other gray robed raven.
“I know Hungin, could you two take him back?” asked Tia.
“The Library or Aarukamma?” asked Hungin.
“The Library,” said Tia, then another portal opened and the three ravens departed.
“That was awkward,” whispered Katsuo to Jun who nodded.
From there they spend the rest of the day in that temple dedicated to the Lords and Ladies of Changes, Tia also introduced the rest of her children. Hungin and Munin, the ones who left, were the oldest followed by a female raven name Coronis, three males named Corvus, Orev and Korvac, followed by two females named Shani and Branwen, followed by two males named Kuta and Sunda, lastly two females named Catha and Morri.
“Who knew that even gods could have embarrassing moments?” whispered Katsuo to Jun as they laid on their bed, Katsuo only wearing his pants while Jun had a simple oversized shirt and shorts.
“You will find out that gods are not that different from mortals,” said Grogar from his bed opposite to the couple, only wearing his black pants.
Currently, the party was resting on one of the communal rooms with six beds that were normally used by the priests. There were two rows of beds with three beds on each side of the room with the bed perpendicular to the entrance without a door. Katsuo and Jun were sharing a bed closest to the entrance on the right row because they were a couple and because they were small, so it wasn't much of a problem for them.
“Yeah, I met few gods during my travels but never an Old God, Lord Ta'xet was… eccentric,” said Agate from her bed in the middle of the right row wearing a shirt and pants.
“More like obsessive and borderline insane,” said Rime from her bed on the furthest bed on the left row wearing a long nightgown. Then she asked, “What do you think Cheng?”
*Snore*
The sound of the mage still wearing his robes snoring was Rime response.
“He really needs to exercise more,” said Jun as she lifted her head from Katsuo chest covered in red fur, fluffy and well care fur that was her favorite pillow and it was even better when he had his winter coat, and looked at her exhausted brother in the furthest bed on the right row.
“Well, he is a mage and most missions don't require them to climb a mountain,” said Faust from the middle of the left row wearing a long black nightgown.
They all were wearing more conservative clothes because they were guests in a temple.
“We better get some sleep, tomorrow morning we go to Zerzura,” said Grogar as he closed his eyes.
“Sure thing boss,” said Katsuo as he hugged Jun closer to himself.
“Night,” said Jun as she snuggled with her lover.
“Ok, see you tomorrow,” said Rime before closing her eyes.
“Goodnight master,” said Faust before getting comfortable and close her eyes.
“Goodnight everyone,” said Agate.
Next Morning
The party was in front of the temple after breakfast, Tia and the other raven gods with the exception of Korvac went back to either the Library of Knowledge or the City of the Gods after wishing them a good journey. Korvac intended to visit Zerzura in the near future and seeing as Grogar and his party were going there Korvac might as well go with them now, so the group agreed and the golden robbed raven went with them. The group thanked the priests for their hospitality –they consisted mostly of pegasi, gryphons and birdfolks– before departing.
It was an uneventful trip through the desert until the group reached a city, more accurately a fortress beneath Zerzura, it was mostly inhabited by soldiers and beings that would go out frequently on the desert for one reason or another, it was also where most travelers could spend a night or two resting.
However the most noticeable feature of this place where the towers, they were essentially elevators for the people on the ground to reach Zerzura since there was a force field around the flying city to block teleportation and many floating outposts to block anyone from physically enter the city without permission.
Gods could, of course, teleport directly to their temples if they have one on the city, but they avoid doing that because the city itself started as a floating temple to not one but two Old Gods. Even if the city expanded around the temple it was still a place for their worshippers so even other gods obey the rules and only other Old Gods arrive unannounced.
The party reached a designed area beneath one of the "arms" of the fortress, then a beam of light came down and the group started to float up. It was something that Rime, Agate, Cheng and Korvac have done before, so it wasn't a big deal for them, to Grogar, Faust, Katsuo and Jun, however, it was new experience, Jun and Katsu had child-like look of wonder as they saw the floating city while Faust and Grogar had a more reserved reaction it was clear that Faust felt like a young mare journeying through the world again.
“Beautiful, isn't it?” asked Korvac.
“Indeed,” said Grogar simply.
“This place looks awesome,” said Katsuo and Jun nodded.
“Wait until you see the main city above the clouds,” said Rime with a smile.
“I heard rumors about this place’s beauty during my stay in the palace,” said Faust.
Eventually, they reached the surface and they could see a long road made of stone that led to a gate. They passed through the gate without problems and arrived on the market and from there they proceeded to walk through the outer district until they reached one of the towers. The towers were pretty much like trains but working on the vertical axis and it was here they parted ways with Korvac since he had business on the ground city.
They sat on the private booth that was given to them for their trip to the main city above the clouds, it was really easy considering that Rime was a noble originally from here and besides Grogar and Faust were with the group so they would be given a VIP treatment anyway. The trip just lasted two hours and in that time Jun, Cheng, Rime and Faust ordered some snacks, all in all, a relaxing trip.
Eventually, they reached the main city above the clouds and immediately Jun went to the edge and looked at the setting suns on the horizon.
“Wow,” said Jun before she felt Katsu hug her from behind.
“'Wow’ indeed sugar, I'm might have grown up here but that view never gets old,” said Rime as she approached the couple and soon enough the rest of the party joined them, even Grogar hugged Faust as she leaned on his shoulder while they observed the settings suns. By the time it was dark the lights of the city seemed to blend with the stars from the sky above, dots of light visible from the horizon all around the city, then Rime said, “We better go, I want to see my grandchildren on the Upper City.”
“Upper City?” asked Jun.
“Yeah, the place is called Lower City, it's the residential district for most citizens of Zerzura, it also has many hotels and few temples dedicated to other New Gods important to those that fly such pegasi, birdfolk, griffons and the like. Above us is the Upper City, were nobles, mages and other important families live, it also has the original temple dedicated to the twin gods. Lastly, the separate section that floats around the Upper and Lower Cities are called Rings and is inhabited mostly by the military as is the bases that float around Zerzura itself,” explained Cheng to his sister and Katsu as they made their way to the central tower.
Once there they used one of the many elevators built on the side of the central tower to reach the Upper City it was similar to the Transport Towers but the lift only took ten minutes. When they arrive in the Upper City it was clear it was made mostly for nobles and on the center of the Upper City was the great temple complex that was the starting point of this city.
They venture through the rich neighborhood until they reached a mansion not far from the main temple, the proximity to the temple indicated that this place belonged to one of the most important families in the city, it reminded Grogar of an Arabian palace, but he could see influences of other cultures. Interestingly both levels had arenas in many places where warriors, regardless if they were mortal or gods, could compete and it was to be expected since the twin gods were also warriors.
Anyway, Rime opened the gates and lead the group through the spacious garden until they reached the entrance of the mansion and when they got closer the door was opened by an old looking gryphon with simple black and white suit, he seemed to be a standard gryphon, the feather of his head was white and the feather of his wings light brown it was impossible to tell the color(s) of his fur because of the suit.
“My lady, is delightful to have you back,” said the butler as he bowed before straightening his posture and look at the rest of the group.
“Hello Geoffrey, it's been years,” said Rime.
“Indeed. Would you like me to prepare the guestrooms immediately? All of you must be tired from the journey,” asked Geoffrey.
“Yes thank you. Are we late for dinner?” asked Rime to Geoffrey while he motioned for the other servants that were inside to go and prepare the rooms the moment she said “yes”.
“No my lady, in fact, you are early,” said Geoffrey to Rime before addressing to Grogar, “I'm sorry Lord Grogar, Lady Faust, had we know someone of your stature would come we would have made preparations.”
“It's of no concern, we are but guests in this house regardless of our status,” said Grogar as he and his group entered the mansion.
Grogar’s previous assessment of the cultural influences was consistent with what he saw, maybe there was some relation between the species and their cultural similarities with their mythologies on Earth. The myths surroundings gryphons could be traced back to Central Asia, which was demonstrated in the design of this mansion, that observation also held true with the yuètù and their mostly Chinese influence so far.
Geoffrey guided the group through the mansion until they reached a hallway where the guest rooms were located and Geoffrey led each member of the group to a room, the only exception was Rime who went back to her former room in the mansion. Much like before Grogar and Faust shared a room as did Jun and Katsuo while Agate and Cheng got a room each.
Once in their respective room they all took a relaxing bath, it had been weeks since they all had a proper shower after all and made themselves presentable for a dinner. Despite taking a bath together Grogar and Faust opted to just relax in the water for a bit before coming out and then Grogar turned his All Black Necronsword into robes while Faust used her magic to dress herself in her black greek dress, silver necklace, wristbands, earrings and a diadem that circled her horn, lastly her mane was done in a bun a little to the right being held by a decorative hairpin with his symbol visible just on the surface of the bun.
“You look stunning,” said Grogar as he approached and lifted Faust's head a bit after gently placing his index finger on her chin.
“As do you, master,” said Faust as she run her fingers on the black robes made of shadows, shadows that had an almost eldritch feel to them as well as a hunger that seemed to crave for the existence of everything it touched. That feeling sent shivers down her spine, she couldn't even conceive how her master could wear such a thing and to her, it felt like the claws/talons/jaws of a predator against her skin all the time.
“Are you alright?” asked Grogar and that made Faust come back to reality, then she placed her other hand on his chest.
“How can you wear and use something like this so casually?” asked Faust.
“Because that is the darkness and void between universes, something my soul bathed itself for an unfathomable amount of my existence, where neither space nor time existed and at this point I find it to be comforting,” said Grogar before leaned down and nuzzled Faust being careful to not mess her mane.
*Ping*
"Oh, really?" asked Grogar to the Mother Box that just informed him of a new token. Then he asked, "What's the token?"
*Ping*
"A Phantom Ring, how intriguing. Thank you for the update," said Grogar without pulling away from Faust and she didn't interrupt her master's conversation.
*Ping*
The Mother Box then went dark after informing her user of this new development. Then a knock on the door was heard and Grogar pulled away from Faust before creating a tentacle from his shadow and open the door. On the other side was a female unicorn with a yellow coat and blue mane with a maid uniform, she looked nervous after seeing the tentacle of shadow as well as Grogar and Faust.
“Dinner is ready Your Majesty, I'm here to guide your lordship and Lady Faust to the dining room,” said the maid as she bowed and faced the ground.
“Proceed then,” said Faust as she walked out of the room followed by Grogar and outside they met the rest of the group, except Rime.
Jun was wearing a simple yet elegant dark blue dress, Katsuo was wearing a suit, Cheng was wearing a new set of robes with more details and Agate was wearing a golden dress much like Jun. It was actually a bit jarring seeing the female qilin wearing a dress when they were used to seeing her with armor, but the gold color complemented her blue scales and fur as well as her orange mane.
“You look beautiful,” said Grogar to Agate after observing her for a while, which caused her to blush and feel nervous for a moment. Cheng and Jun just nodded while Katsu just gave a thumbs up to the female warrior that was unused to this type of clothing.
“This way please,” said the maid before guiding them through the hallways before they reached a door where Rime was waiting. She was wearing a red and yellow robe or tunic-like Moroccan dress.
“Ready to meet my family?” asked Rime before placing her hands on the double doors.
Author's Note
Sorry for the wait and the shorter chapter, currently dealing with stuff in real life and a writer's block.
Tiamat is mostly an Expy from her D&D version, so a giant dragoness with multiple heads, however, I will be doing some modifications so stay tuned to find out. Her name came from an entity from Ancient Babylonian Mythology that lived in the primordial ocean.
Engur is one of the names of Tiamat's consort in Ancient Babylonian Mythology, his appearance in this story is based on Chromatus the five-headed dragon from Warcraft.
Tia and Ta'xet are gods of death from Haida mythology associated with ravens. They and their children have their appearances based on the Greater Daemons of Tzeentch from Warhammer, both the Fantasy's version and 40k's version .
Hugin and Munin are based on Huginn and Muninn from Norse mythology, they are the ravens that spy on all realms for Odin and lastly Huginn being referred to as "thought" and Muninn as "memory".
Coronis is from Greek mythology, it's the name of a lover of Apollo and is in this story that tells why all ravens have black feathers. In a nutshell, they all got their once white feathers charred after delivering the news of her being pregnant and Apollo wasn't the father.
Corvus is simply the Roman name for ravens.
Orev is simply the Hebrew name for ravens.
Korvac is the name of a Marvel villain that sounded similar to "Corvo" to me, so why not?
Shani is a Hindu god or goddess that rides a giant raven.
Kuta is based on a spirit raven from Siberia.
Sunda is based on Bhusunda, in Hindu mythology is a sage that took the form of a raven.
Branwen is a character from Welsh mythology, sister of Brân whose name means raven.
Catha and Morri are based on Badb Catha and Morrigan from Irish mythology.
Anyway, Ta'xet attitude is based on Chandler
Also for those that are curious about magic click here to check my blog.
Warning: some graphical descriptions in this chapter.
Two days later, morning, harbor
Grogar and his group were on the Zerzura’s airship harbor, more specifically on one of the empty docks that Grogar requested, and were waiting for Rime since she was having one last conversation with her family before her departure from the city. Their stay in Zerzura was rather uneventful, it was fun seeing the looks of surprise on the faces of the city council with his unexpected visit.
Faust was patiently standing beside the darkly cloaked monarch along with Agate while Cheng was near the edge pointing at the distance and explaining something to Katsu and Jun. Grogar looked at the family that offered their hospitality to the group as they said their farewells to their matriarch, they consisted of many types or subspecies of gryphon but a common trait shared by most of them were the shades of brown and orange on their fur and feathers since most of the family seemed to have features of owls and tigers.
Grogar spied Rime as the white gryphoness hugged a few couples before kneeling down and speak with some of the younger members of the family, some of them crying obviously wanting their grandmother to stay. Then three individuals from the family approached Grogar as Rime was talking to the cubs/chicks, the first was a tradicional male gryphon with the upper half of an owl and the lower half of a tiger, his brownish feathers had an orange hue that reminded Grogar of leaves in the autumn but with hints of gray from age while the second was a female opinicus gryphon having the head of a sea hawk but from the neck down her body was covered in fur, her back and sides with brownish fur plus lighter fur on her front, those were the characteristics of a puma.
These were Rime’s son and his mate, it was interesting that he fell for an opinicus gryphon —gryphons that have the head and wings of a bird but the body of a feline— but the most interesting was the third individual, a pegasus. He was a common pegasus pony with light blue fur and feathers with black mane, he looked out of place in a family of gryphons, if it wasn’t for the baby he was holding, a traditional hippogryph with small light blue feathered wings mixed with dark gray ones, the pegasus was Rime’s grandson-in-law and the father of her first great-grandchild.
“You honor us with your presence here, my Emperor,” said the daughter-in-law as she bowed to the Emperor.
“There are no words to thank you for what you did for all of us and for allowing my mother to accompany during this journey,” said Rime’s son as the two lowered his head.
“It was nothing, besides I like to spend time with my subjects,” said the dark sorcerer as he looked at a couple before letting his eyes wander to the little one in the arms of the pegasus. He couldn't help but reach out with one of his hands, then the little one reached out and grabbed one of his fingers, it took both of the bird-like hands of the little hippogriff to hold his finger as he gazed at the young one with his ruby-like eyes.
The little one just smiled for looking at the Grogar’s eyes before blinking twice and reach out with his tiny hands. The Lord of Tambelon just smiled as well before saying, “This one has great potential and I look forward to what he will be coming to future.”
“We thank you for your kind words, my Emperor,” said the pegasus as Grogar pulled back his hand.
“It was not kindness, it was a statement and it will be up to him to live up to this potential,” said Grogar just as he noticed that Rime was coming back. Then he added, “Be as it may, it's time for me and my group to go.”
The Emperor turned around and walked toward the rest of his group near the edge of the dock where they did not have to wait much longer for the only remaining member of the group to rejoin them.
“So, so where is the Airship we are supposed to board?” asked Katsuo, however, his answer came in the form of Grogar lifting his right arm forward before a golden ripple appeared in the air and its light was so strong that the group had to cover their eyes.
When the light disappeared the group was greeted by the image of a golden vehicle that was similar yet different from a boat but floating in the air adorned with its jewel-like wings that seem to be made of gemstones.
“This is the Vimana, one of the many treasures inside my vault,” said Grogar as he and Faust walked on one of the wings acting as ramp allowing the duo to board the vessel.
The group only came back to reality when Grogar sat on the golden throne and Faust stood beside him and after waiting patiently for the onlookers to take in the image of his vessel. Considering that he was to his subjects what the God-Emperor of Mankind was to the Imperium of Man —thankfully with far less zealotry and fanaticism— it was only right to bask in the adoration of his subjects.
After the five remaining members of the group climbed aboard of the vessel an almost imperceptible shimmer envelope golden vessel. Then, with merely I thought from its owner the wings started to glow with worldly light before unfolding its wings and not long after the vessel flew north with the speed of a shooting star.
To the outsiders, it looked like a streak of green light but the to the monarch in his heavenly throne it was like seeing the scenery move around him while feeling a pleasant summer breeze on his face. Grogar wondered if this was what Gilgamesh felt at the height of the Age of the Gods in his own version of Earth as he soared through the heavens and looked upon his garden with Enkidu by his side.
The dark sorcerer clad in the shadows of a God-killing weapon just relaxed and closed his eyes as the vessel moved in the direction that he had set while his companions enjoyed the trip by observing different aspects of the current situation. The couple from the small town just observed the landscape below them in awe and wonder while the sorcerers of the group observed the wings of the vessel trying to understand its inner workings and mysteries and the warrior dragoness stood by Grogar side opposite to the former student.
This journey was uneventful and short, lasting less than an hour, however, little more than halfway through this path they noticed that the air was becoming cold and their answer came when the landscape below started to acquire hues of white. Then, the Vessel of the Gods stopped in the frozen north where the land was seemingly dead while being made of ice and snow. The feeling of being a great distance being covered was enhanced by the moons hanging in the sky filled with stars, a place that they heard about in passings from books and stories when they were little, the “Roof of the World” a place where the night is eternal and the only indication of time passing was the movements of the moons and starts.
The unquestionable ruler of this world stood from his throne and walked through the red path covered in a luxurious tapestry until he reached the tip of the vessel. From there he just lifted his arm and open his hand where another golden ripple of light made itself known.
The light dissipated from the monarch’s hand leaving a clear cylinder, which upon closer inspection seemed to be made of a strange and yet beautiful crystal, one might even say that it was a gemstone without flaw. Pulling back his arm while muttering words in an unknown language eventually caused floating circles of light to appear and extend from both ends of the cylinder before moving so closely together that they resembled a spear of light.
Stopping his incantation Grogar threw the spear at the frozen landscape and like a bolt of lightning, it struck the ground, with the only evidence of its action being a small crater on the ground.
“Not that I mind the light show but what was the point of doing that?” asked the kitsune before receiving an elbow in his stomach for the rather rude way he asked the question, courtesy of his lover.
“I'm here to fulfill a promise I made after awakening,” said Grogar firmly. Katsu just raised an eyebrow and Jun tilted her head while Rime and Cheng were busy analyzing the spellwork that Grogar used just now, Agate and Faust keep to themselves, the former because she reverted back to her training as a bodyguard and the latter because she knew what promise her master was referring to.
Grogar just kept his eyes on the place where his spell was launched, he didn't mind that Cheng and Rime were trying to unveil how the spells he weaved using a combination of High-Speed Incantation and High-Speed Divine Words —both were abilities from the Nasuverse— worked, in fact, he encouraged their curiosity since it favored the advancement of both magic and technology. As he mused that the ground started to shake and the snow on the top of the nearby mountains fell and became avalanches while the “eternal glaciers” cracked.
From the ground, deep chasms opened before structures made of stone, crystal, ice and bones shot up from the depth and they kept coming out until a great city with a Gothic/Victorian-like architecture that had an eldritch feel to it. That feeling was made even stronger by the Northern Lights and the pale light of the moons, frankly it reminded Grogar of the city of Yharnam from Bloodborne but if it was made of gray stone that had bones integrated into its architecture while also having aspects of the Duke’s Archives from Dark Souls because of the crystal and ice on the structures.
Before anyone could ask any questions from him Grogar jumped from the Vimana and was followed by Faust and Agate, he's simply created wings made of shadows using the Necrosword while the alicorn and dragoness just use their own wings to slow their descent. As soon as his hooves touched the cold ground he silently commanded his vessel to slowly descend from its current position.
While Vimana was descending Grogar closed his eyes, then with his right hand brought the Mother Box up and in contact with his forehead as he accessed the archives inside the divine computer, more specifically the Ansem and Xehanort’s reports. Once he was done he started to weave another spell while Faust and Agate observed the bleak architecture of the newly erected city while the trio stood in the town square and before a great cathedral-like palace with a central clock tower.
*Ping* *BOOM*
Just as Vimana lowered enough for its passengers to jump down, but they opted to stay on Vimana since the barrier protected from the brunt of the cold air here, Grogar opened his eyes and two portals opened in front of him a far distance away following the sound of an explosion, however, upon closer inspection it was noted to be two explosions going off at the same time, he made sure to place the spell he weaved just now on the newly opened Boom Tubes.
From the first Boom Tube came a pony-like figure that was akin to a crystal pony with tree-like antlers but with small and almost unnoticeable ridges on its skin that reminded everyone of the lines present in pieces of ice while the mane and tail were made of the cold mist that indicated low temperatures as well as a cloak that was seemingly made of white and silver rubber-like fabric. From the second Boom Tube a pony-like similar to the first but being black and with the mane and tail being made of smoke instead of mist and the cloak being made of either fabric or plates of various colors on a dark almost black background.
As the two walked toward Grogar more figures started to walk out of the portal and by the time the first two were in front of him they knelt down and all the other followed suit, eventually the whole square was filled with many figures, most of them were pony-like but there were other species in the mix but all of them had antlers of different shapes and sizes. The application of the concepts mentioned in Ansem and Xehanort’s notes helped Grogar transforming the umbrums and windigos into beings of flesh and bone, however, the interesting part was the Nobody and Heartless features that they acquired respectively, he noticed some minor Unversed features on both groups though.
“Milord/Father,” said the umbrum and windigo respectively.
“Am I right to assume that both of you are the leaders and the rest are all who have chosen to come here willingly?” asked Grogar as the Boom Tubes closed and the answer came when the two nodded, so he asked, “Then, tell me the names of my newest subjects?”
“I’m Rabia,” said the umbrum.
“I’m Fon,” said the windigo.
Grogar nodded before two small piles of books appeared in front of the pair, then Grogar said, “I front of you are the books that you two will need to live here and understand your new bodies. My test for you all is to create a prosperous and thriving society in this city in a decade or less.”
“How we do this, father?” asked Fon.
“That’s for you two to discover,” said Grogar before turning around and climb on Vimana, where he saw Jun snuggle against Katsu who was emitting a lot of heat, probability using his kitsunebi or foxfire while Cheng and Rime were simply using their mana to raise their body temperature. Then he looked at Rabia and Fon before saying, “As soon as I leave a barrier will be placed around the city and surrounding land where time will pass faster inside the dome than outside. I will place a deity or more to observe your progress and if you pass and impress them you might get a new patron deity.”
“Is that it?” asked Rabia with disbelief in her tone and Grogar just raised an eyebrow, which prompted her to continued with a certain measure of anger, “You just lead us here to imprison us like the crystal pony did not long ago! What makes this any different from what they did?!”
“Do you expect a King to tend to his garden?” asked Grogar with a matter of fact tone and without waiting for an answer he continued, “Of course not, the garden is tended by the gardeners. This world is my garden and I’m entrusting a piece of it to you, failing to tend to the land you were given simply means that you have no place here. Besides unlike those arrogant and foolish ponies, I’m not doing it permanently.”
“Please forgive her, father, your actions may be harsh and your expectations steep but there are truth and wisdom in them,” said Fon as she got up and placed a hand on Rabia’s shoulder, they may not have known each other for long but they felt a certain degree of kinship toward each other.
“Don’t expect me to cuddle you or hold your hand, I expect all my subjects to contribute to the advancement of Tambelon. I might give clues but in the end, you will be the ones to either walk forward or be left behind,” said Grogar as he turned to look down at the umbrums and windigos present. His cloak seemed to grow longer and become one with the shadow he cast with a moon behind him, which left only his silhouette and ruby eyes visible to all of them and that image sent shivers down the umbrums' newly made spines.
It dawned on all of them that Grogar didn’t save them out of the goodness of his heart, he did so because he expected something from them and while that was undeniable to see how blunt he was surprised them. This was their new ruler, they placed their hopes for the future on him and they discovered that this was not the benevolent god that some legends claimed nor the selfish god that was denounced by others. No, his true nature laid somewhere in-between the myriad of legends and its interpretations that surrounded him and his deeds, that simply meant that if they failed to meet his expectations they would be cast aside, however, they were grateful that he was reasonable and fair despite his harsh words.
“Ten years, and maybe in the future you will get your revenge on the crystal ponies of Mundus,” said Grogar as Vimana ascended not even acknowledging the look of surprise in the umbrums and once it was near the clouds a dome of energy shimmered into existence beneath the vessel as it turned around and head south.
“A little harsh, don’t you think?” asked Katsu as Grogar sat on his golden throne.
“Maybe, but if they will not help Tambelon as a whole then they have no place in this world,” said Grogar before taking the Mother Box in his hand and give another silent command.
*ping**BOOM*
The Mother Box answered his command before disappearing in a small explosion, using its Boom Tube to head somewhere with a mission given to her by Grogar.
“Where did it go?” asked Cheng, curious about the little box.
“She,” said Grogar and Faust at the same time.
“Excuse me?” asked Cheng out of reflex.
“It's 'she' not 'it' and she is a Mother Box, a divine computer capable of capable of storing knowledge as well as coordinates through time and space as well as performing many calculations. She also happens to have a female personally and can convey any and all information in ‘ping’ sounds to her user,” explained Faust and not long after she finished her explanation four new Boom Tubes opened before anyone could ask any more questions.
From the first Boom Tube came two familiar raven-like entities clad in gray robes and silver ornaments, Hungin and Munin. From the second came a anthro male eagle with feather made of ice and light blue talons and wearing a frozen armor with a helmet with two upward horns followed by a similar but female eagle with feathers that had a vivid red hue that reminded everyone of freshly spilled blood but instead of wearing armor she wore many straps of leather.
From the third portal came three female figures, the three were covered in black fur and had heads of jackals with three eyes each but some patches of their bodies were covered either by thick and almost leathery hide or black scales as well as a long snake tail that had the same skin that covered the rest of their bodies; membranous wings that seemed to have scales and feather in random places, some might say that they were cruelly sewed on the wings, said wings had a hand with inhumanly long fingers on the joint as well as bird like talons for feet. The differences between the three were the patches of skin themselves and the color of their eyes, which were golden, purple and silver.
The only clothing they wore was a dirty loincloth made of fur or leather and a bikini top that was made with pieces of skulls that held the skeleton of either a bird or bat over their bellies as ornaments. Another feature that the trio shared was that all three had many battle scars made by all manner of weapons as well as round and protruding bellies that were squirming with the movement of its occupants, which at first would seem out of place on their muscular and scarred yet feminine body but it also seemed to fit their image for some reason.
Lastly, from the fourth portal came a very tall and slender anthro wolf-like being that would be around 18ft tall if it stood on two legs, the wolf was on all four of its unnaturally long limbs that ended in a rather human-like hands and feet, also despite being wolf-like the creature had magnificent and wicked looking antlers. Unlike the others, the creature didn’t have any clothing on but it had long strands of fur that would be more like mane strands than fur were drifting in the air as if they were underwater or being moved by some invisible and imperceptible breeze, these strands of mane-like fur more than made up for the lack of clothing.
Immediately after the new arrivals were out of their respective portals and on Vimana the Boom Tubes closed and the Mother Box floated back to Grogar’s hand. At the same time, Katsu and Jun run to hide behind Faust, Jun was trembling while Katsu growled at the four that were emanating a suffocating amount of bloodlust, thankfully Faust presence helped a lot. Cheng and Rime had magical circles floating near them as they prepared to defend themselves and Agate’s hand was around her weapons.
“I see,” said the ice blue eagle in armor.
“Good to see you are back Grogar,” said the trio of mismatched anthro jackals at the same time, all three of them with a wicked grin that seemed to be on the verge of tearing their own faces open.
“How dare you speak with our Master with such disrespect and familiarity,” said the blood red eagle.
“Like we care about the opinion of a lazy chick who never left the nest,” sneered the golden-eyed jackal.
“Bitch,” said the blood eagle as she ground her beak in anger.
“Your point?” asked the golden-eyed jackal as the other two just dismissed the blood eagle entirely.
“Why you...” growled the blood eagle as she pulled back her hand and summed a whip made of red energy and liquid. The golden eyed jackal just summoned two flaming kukris on her hands and just using the hand of her right wing she motioned for the eagle to come, her belly spasming to the point of being disturbing as its passenger seemed to be eager to claw its way out.
“Enough,” said Grogar with a bored tone as he placed his head on his left hand and his left elbow on the armrest of his golden throne. Despite the boredom on the voice, the tone of finality was enough for the two of them to begrudgingly lower their weapons, however, Grogar would have none of that, so he ordered, “Dissipate your weapons.”
The two did so before the seven stood in front of Grogar, however, they made sure that the blood eagle and the golden-eyed jackal where on the opposites ends, with the raven duo and the ice eagle between the trio and the red eagle while the giant horned wolf opted to stay behind the line because of his greater size. The golden eyed jackal just looked down at her bulging and spasming belly in annoyance, so she placed her hand on the stretched and scarred skin before mercilessly sinking her claws into her own flesh.
“Be quiet, I don’t remember giving you permission to come out yet,” said the golden-eyed jackal flatly as she seemed to grab something with her claw, her passenger stopped before it seemed to withdraw deeper into her body, when she proceeded to pull out her claws blood and amniotic fluid started to leak out the holes that closed soon after. Then she proceeded to scoop the liquid that was dripping down her skin with her bloody hand and brought it to her face, where she licked it clean with her snake tongue. Then she looked at Grogar and said after pulling back her tongue while the tip of her tail appeared over her shoulder and the head of the snake licked any drop she left behind, “Sorry about that Grogar, you know how unruly they can be.”
“I see you haven't changed at all Dimmelith,” said Grogar flatly and ignoring the nauseous look that Cheng, Jun and Katsu had as well as the tense look that Rime and Agate where displaying.
“Would you have me any other way, my Emperor?” asked Dimmelith with a merry tone in her voice as if nothing was wrong.
“Disgusting as ever, demon,” said Faust as she looked away from the trio.
“As if we care what you think, doll,” said the silver-eyed one.
Ignoring the quarrel between the alicorn and the trio, for now, Grogar directed his attention to the two eagles.
“It good to see you two again,” said Grogar.
“Of course my lord, I knew you would return eventually,” said the ice eagle to Grogar.
“Congratulations for yours and your daughter's ascension into the ranks of the New Gods, Rasvelg,” said Grogar and that caused the eyes of the red eagle to light up at her master’s prize.
“Thank you, my lord, your words mean a lot to me and my dear Aethon, I’m sure she will be able to convey her happiness to you on a later date when we are not busy,” said Rasvelg.
“Indeed,” said Grogar before looking at the two ravens and nodded to them. Then he looked the wolf and said, “Lazy as ever Varcolac.”
Grogar’s only answer from the old wolf was a snort of amusement, which prompted said wolf to receive a glare from Aethon and at this point, it wasn’t a hyperbole to say that she was his first fangirl. The sorcerer ignored the glare and looked at Faust and the demonic trio, the hands of the three were twitching to summon their weapons and jump at Faust while said alicorn’s horn was glowing with the chromatic aura of her magic ready for a fight.
“Dimmelith, Innandna, Abyzoyllou,” said Grogar listing the names of the jackal sisters as he looked into their eyes, as his ruby-like eyes met golden, silver and purple in that order. The sisters shivered as each felt the power of their Emperor directed at them if the shiver was of fear, pleasure or both it was up for debate.
“I called you all here because I have a mission for you,” said Grogar.
“You just came back and is already giving orders, I don’t know why I’m not surprised,” said Varcolac to himself not even bothering to hide his sarcasm.
“As I was saying, your mission is to monitor a city that I raised on the frozen north and if it doesn’t meet my standards, to wipe it from Tambalon,” said Grogar.
“And the inhabitants?” asked Munin as he lifted his head a little to look directly into the eyes of his ruler.
“I will find another way for them to contribute to the advancement of Tambelon,” said Grogar without changing his tone or expression.
“I see,” said Hungin and his brother just nodded.
“Not that we mind an assignment from you but what we get out of this?” asked Innandna as she placed her left hand on her hips, shamelessly show off her body to her lord as her silver eyes looked into Grogar’s ruby eyes.
“You slut! How dare you demand a reward from His Majesty when basking in his glory is more than enough! Old God or not I won’t stand for such blasphemy!” shouted Aethon and she was about to summon her whip when her father placed a hand on her shoulder, a glare from him and chunks of ice growing where his hand was told Aethon that if she pushed this any further there would be consequences, regardless of her status as a New God.
“Ignoring the babbling chick, my sister does have a point,” said Dimmelith as she crossed her arms beneath her ample bosom as her golden roaming eyes took in Grogar’s muscular upper body that was exposed and not covered by his black cape.
“Maybe we finally get the chance to have some specimens sired by you,” said Abyzoyllou as she leaned forward showing her cleavage to Grogar as she placed her finger on her lips.
“You will have to try harder,” said Grogar flatly and this caused the three to pout.
“Huh, can’t blame us for trying,” said Dimmelith with disappointment and amusement in her voice, more of the latter than the former.
“Yeah, any being sire by you would make a fine general for our armies,” said Abyzoyllou as she stood.
“Is it because of this?” asked Innandna as she placed her hands on her belly, its passenger seemed to quake in fear as if sensing the intentions of its mother, “We can just as easily go back and pop these out, or better yet, we can just rip them out right here right now if you want.”
"No, it's not because you are already pregnant," said Grogar flatly.
"Good, because it wouldn't have been a problem anyway," said Dimmelith with a matter-of-fact tone.
"If anything, it would've been better for you to sire another while we are already pregnant," said Abyzoyllou with a smile on her muzzle.
"After all, it would have gotten rid of the weaker one and provide the first meal to our precious new pet," said Innandna with a happy tone as she clapped her clawed hands together completely ignoring the terrified unborn that was still trembling in fear.
"Essentially, killing two birds with one stone," said Dimmelith coyly as she looked at Aethon who tightened her fist to the point her claw was digging on her own flesh and she was on the verge of breaking her own beak with how much force her jaw was applying.
“Your disregard for your own offsprings never ceases to amaze me,” said Grogar without changing his expression while the demoness was just amused at the frustration that the female New God was trying to hide.
“And why should we care? They are just soldiers to fuel our armies and drive our campaign forward,” said Abyzoyllou with a dismissive tone.
“Demons,” mutter Jun from behind Faust, which caused her to be noticed by the trio. Jun instincts went overdrive and she froze at the gaze of those nine eyes with a predatory glint.
“Oh, what we have here?” asked Dimmelith and the moment her eyes looked at Jun Cheng teleported to Faust's side to help protect his sister.
“Stay away from my sister,” said Cheng firmly while Katsu hugged Jun protectively.
“How about you give us that moon rabbit, our sons would love to break in a new toy,” said Abyzoyllou with a sickly sweet tone.
“Indeed, strong magic and athletic physique, a fine broodmother if I have to say so,” said Dimmelith in an equally sick and sweet tone.
"If she struggles too much we can always cut off her limbs, besides I'm curious to see that cute face when she is being violated," said Innandna as she licked her own lip in anticipation.
“Refrain from abducting our traveling companions, demons,” said Faust with distaste in her voice.
"And what's stopping us from doing just that?" asked Dimmelith with a coy tone.
"If you do that I doubt that Inari and the New Gods worshiped by the yuètù would let you get away with it in the first place," said Faust confidently.
"I rather not deal with those upstarts bitching, especially considering we just got our lord back," said Abyzoyllou flatly.
“Shame, that male rabbit and that kitsune would make fine additions to our collection of breeders,” said Innandna biting the claw of her index finger as she imagined all the things she would do to those two.
“You know the rules, you can’t kidnap mortal without a good reason and any conflict between gods aside from preestablished duels are forbidden on Tambelon. Failing to follow these rules will result in the destruction either permanent or temporary of the god(s) that participated in such conflict,” started Grogar and this caused Faust to relax and the trio to stop their advances.
“I think we indulged on this waste of time long enough,” said Varcolac in an annoyed tone.
“Tch, you are no fun big bro,” said Dimmelith to Varcolac.
“You asked me what you get out of this mission, how about the worship of two new races?” asked Grogar.
“What new races?” asked Rasvelg and Abyzoyllou at the same time with a serious tone.
“That got your attention?” asked Grogar but the look on all eight of them was all the answer he needed, so he asked, “Do any of you remember the windigos and umbrums?”
A wicked smile appeared on the lips of the trio and the giant wolf, they remember the rather amusing races that were created by Grogar before his war with Faust, they never had a deity on their own and many gods wanted them if nothing else to just rub in the face of the other gods. However, both were essentially children of Grogar and becoming the patron deity of either one of the races would grant them great prestige here in Tambelon.
“North you said?” asked Rasvelg and his answer came when Grogar snapped his fingers and a glowing line appeared in the air going north, immediately and without hesitation, Aethon jumped leaving a trail of dark red liquid-like energy behind as she flew.
Rasvelg followed his daughter soon after and not far behind was the trio of demonic hybrids leaving a trail of black smoke behind.
“Be sure to report back to me when the mission is over,” said Grogar to the raven duo and Varcolac.
“I will be sure to tell that to my sisters,” said Varcolac as two tattered wings formed on his back weaved from his fur before being ignited by a dark orange fire. Then he asked, “You know that they will use that as an excuse for you to impregnate them, right?”
“And so long they fail to meet certain requirements or changing my mind I will keep refusing their advances,” said Grogar.
“They won’t give up,” said Varcolac.
“It wouldn't be them if they did, its simply in their nature to crave and love power,” said Grogar and Varcolac nodded before jumping leaving a trail of fire behind.
“You know that we have no interest whatsoever in the umbrums and windigos,” said Munin, then Hungin continued from where he left off, “So, why call us, Your Majesty?”
“Two reasons: to inform you, your siblings and parents of their arrival and to make sure the others gods become aware of their arrival as well after the mission is done,” said Grogar.
“We are humbled by your trust in us, milord,” said Hungin.
“We shall not fail you,” said Munin before hitting his staff on the ground, which caused a magic circle to appear beneath the two Lords of Change before they were teleported away.
Grogar looked at his right at Faust as she placed a hand on Jun’s back to comfort her and doing the same with Katsu, out of everyone present they were the only ones that were not prepared to deal with demons and evil gods, Agate had prior experience and the fact that she dabbled in magic to the point she prepared herself in case she had to fight creatures of other planes as had Cheng and Rime since they delved deeper into the arcane than Agate.
With a sigh, Grogar used the Necrosword to gently pick up the couple and place them on his lap before placing one of his hands on the small rabbit and another on the kitsune. They stiffened at first but as his strong hands rubbed their backs and occasionally their ears the two instinctually recognized him as a protector, so they relaxed at the contact.
“My lord, may I speak freely?” asked Cheng as he stood in front of Grogar while the Emperor comforted his sister and her boyfriend, both of them looking so small compared to the dark goat, not surprising considering that he was around three times their size. Grogar nodded and Cheng asked, “What hell were you thinking?!”
“Oh boy,” said Rime and Agate at the same time.
Author's Note
Explanation of the names:
Fon - it comes from the Old Norse fönn meaning "snowdrift" and coincidently from the Chinese Fong(風) meaning "wind".
Rasvelg - from the Old Norse Hræsvelgr meaning "the devourer of corpses", its the name of a frost giant that took the form of an eagle and he sits at the "end of the world" or "edge of the heavens" in the north and causes the north wind to blow when he beats his wings in flight.
Aethon - it means "burning one", "blazing one" or "shining one" and it was a brownish red eagle that tormented the Titan Prometheus by devouring his liver.
Varcolac - comes from Slavic languages it parallels the Old Norse Úlfhéðnar "ones in wolf-skin" that was used to refer to their champions, much like the Berserkir for the "ones in bear-skin" and the Svinfylking for the "ones in boar-skin". The term was used to refer to what we call werewolf, but when it went to Ancient Greece it became "Vrykolakas" and as it was translated it became "Vampir" when it was translated back to Slavic and eventually the modern "Vampire".
Abyzoyllou - a combination of Abyzou and Gyllou two female demons that were said to be responsible for the death of babies and pregnant women, normally in the form of miscarriages or complications shortly after the birth and in some versions they feed on them as well. Their greek names are also the origins of the words Abyss and Ghoul respectively.
Dimmelith - a combination of Dimme and Lilith , both of them from the Sumerians and both are said to be responsible for the death of babies and pregnant women as well, also in some interpretation the mothers of an entire race of monsters/demons.
Innandna - a combination of Teteoh innan and Echidna , the first is an Aztec goddess of fertility, death and rebirth that bore and birthed all the stars and the moon as well as the sun while the second is said to be the "mother of all (land) monsters" in Greek mythology, interestingly both of them have an association with snakes.
The design of the windigos and umbrums are a mixture of many depictions of the wendigos from other media with features and clothing from Nobody and Heartless mixed with minor Unversed traits. Side note, Windigo is also a correct name for the Wendigo because of the myriad of ways its name can be pronounced in the Native American languages, Windigo and Wendigo are just the more commonly used ones in English, the latter more so than the former.
Varcolac design is based on the wolf-like beasts from Bloodborne plus the Wendigo designs I found on the internet, unfortunately, I cant show them here because of the gore. Just look for "Cleric Beast", "Vicar Amelia" and "Wendigo" on Google to get the idea. Considering all the inspirations and stories it seemed fitting.
The design of the demonic trio of sisters was inspired by a combination of Lamashtu —another name for her is Dimme— from Pathfinder and Barbatos from DC, here:
9.1. A afternoon in the cabin.(CLOP)
Author's Note
Reading this chapter is optional, it has only the sex/clop scene. If you don't like it then don't read it, you can continue the story without this chapter. Anyway, tell me how I did in the comments below.
Warning, this chapter has teasing, sex toys(ring gag, cock gag, nipple chain, dildo, buttplug, pussy plug), power play, fingering(vaginal, partner), feathered wings, breast fondling, nipple pinch, oral(blowjob, deepthroat ), male on female, BDSM, French kiss, edging, ejaculation, squirting, lactation, cum inflation, musk, nipple sucking, multiple orgasms, masturbation, pussyjob, penetration (vaginal, cervical, anal, oral), double penetration, excessive cum, creampie, psychic link, face fuck, neck bulge, cheek bulge, crouching/squatting, drinking blood, symbiote or goo/amorphous creature, living clothes/suit, body control, hornjob, horngasm, magiculation, spanking, spitroast and pasties.
9.1. A afternoon in the cabin.(CLOP)
Faust pulled back from the kiss and moaned as she felt her master roughly grope her breasts beneath the apron and the feeling of his hardening tool brushing against her wet lips, he probably teleported his clothes off of his body. With some effort, she managed to remove his hand from her breast and ask, “Shouldn't we eat before it gets cold?”
“You just love to tempt me, don't you?” asked Grogar before kissing her neck and stepping back and head for the living room. Once he was sitting on the couch Faust just sat beside him while holding his plate.
“Say ‘aah’,” said Faust as she lifted the fork until it was near Grogar’s mouth, from there his meal proceeded without problems, despite Faust occasionally using her telekinesis to grope his muscles or tease his cock but he took all that with a smile on his face. Once he was done he surprised Faust by teleporting his plate to the sink on the kitchen and teleported another plate to his hands.
“Now, say ‘aah’,” said Grogar as he lifted the fork until it was near Faust’s mouth.
“Oh no, master, there is no need to do this,” said Faust and she saw her master’s horns glow for a moment, then she felt her apron being tugged and when she looked down she saw a red shimmer on the sides of her apron being mashed together between her breasts, with her apron squeezed between her free breasts she was about to ask what he was doing but a moan came out as a chain with two clamps on each end clamped on her nipples, then Grogar just tugged the chain down.
“You are mine and if I feel like pampering you I will do so,” said Grogar as he stopped tugging Faust's nipple chain and once again offered the food before asking, “I’m feeling rather merciful, so how about we finish your meal first?”
Faust just opened her mouth and enjoyed her meal as her master teased her, once she was done Grogar just tugged her chain and she followed her master's direction until she was sitting on his lap and her pussy was brushing against his cock as she leaned back, thus coating it with her juice. Grogar himself just run his free hand over Faust’s wings and the alicorn shivered as she felt her master's finger slowly brush down her feathers. The hand that was previously tugging Faust’s chain went down and started to tease her wet lips.
“No matter how many time I listen I never get tired of your moans,” said Grogar before kissing and licking Faust’s neck, then he added, “I feeling a bit adventurous today, any suggestion?”
Grogar was met only by Faust's heavy breathing and before she could formulate any coherent answer he used his sharp fangs to bite on her neck. Faust's sweet blood flowed into Grogar’s mouth, to him it tasted like a fine and well-aged wine without equal, he wasn’t a vampire or anything similar and he didn’t need blood but for some reason, he was drawn to Faust’s blood. He either used his magic to invade her body and induce pleasure or she just like the mixture of pain and pleasure, maybe both. Either way, Grogar enjoyed being the predator and Faust certainly seemed to enjoy being his prey.
The introspection of the Lord of Tambelon was interrupted by a scream from the goddess at his mercy and he removed his fangs from her flesh, if the fluid he could feel running down his legs were any indication said goddess just climaxed.
*click*
Faust barely had an idea of her surroundings after her master’s magic invade her body, she barely felt the nipple chains disappear or her apron being removed, however, she recognized the oppressive feeling of the being/entity/weapon around her neck. Sure enough, around her neck was a black collar made of the same shadowy/oily substance that made her master’s cloak.
“We are just starting and you already came,” said Grogar as the shadowy/oily substance from the collar started to run down Faust’s body covering her fur, once it reached the base of her wings it started to slowly move up and cover her feather, that continued to happen until her whole body covered by the living amorphous shadow like substance, making a skin-tight bodysuit. After all that happened it started to crawl up her neck until it covered her lower face, she struggled out of instinct but she reveled in the feeling of being at the mercy of her master, eventually the suit covered her whole face and horn with the only part not covered by the living weapon being her mane.
Like a puppet Faust’s body started to move without her control, the god-killing weapon making her move at the will of its master. Faust was essentially blind but she could feel as her arms were moved behind her back and her wings were tightly bound over her arms as she felt herself get up turn around and crouch down. Then she felt the oily goo reach into her nose and down her throat and trachea toward her lungs, she tried to struggle but there was nothing she couldn’t do but relief came as the Necrosword started to supply air directly to her lungs but at the same time she felt her mouth being forced open and she could feel the air from the outside, it was a ring gag.
“Since you came once it’s only fair you help me, right?” asked Grogar but it was clear it wasn't a question and as he asked Faust’s ears twitched at the sound of his voice, plus her nose could smell the musk from her master’s tool through the suit.
Grogar looked at Faust as she was covered by the Necrosword, the fact that the such a weapon was a living being allowed Grogar to use it in very interesting ways and he couldn’t help but notice the similarities with the symbiotes from the Marvel 616. He just smiled before placing his hand on Faust's head and move her down its length, he felt his cock easily pass the tight ring and enter Faust's mouth without obstruction before being shoved down her throat, which caused her neck to bulge as the invader stretched her throat and esophagus. He just sighed in pleasure as he felt the warm confines of Faust quiver in a reflex, trying in vain to swallow or expel the invading object but that only served to massage his tool.
Faust just relaxed when she felt her master’s cock reach the back of her throat, there wasn’t much she couldn’t do in her current state, and she whined as she tried to pull back and free one of her arms to masturbate but her body refused to respond so she was just sat there feeling her master’s powerful heartbeats through his cock. Then her head started to move up and down her master’s length and it was when that was happening that the oily goo receded from her eyes, she looked up and saw her master’s ruby colored eyes.
Grogar looked at Faust and with the new openings for her eyes he saw those blue orbs filled with lust and adoration, her BDSM mask contrasted wonderfully with her marble colored fur and red mane, which made the image of the once pure goddess bound to him even more enticing. Without resistance, he grabbed Faust by the horn and using it as a handle started to roughly face fuck the alicorn.
*groan* “Oh, Faust yo- *groan* your mouth is just the best,” said Grogar and the way her eyes seemed to brighten at the prize she received with almost innocent glee sent him over the edge. He felt his body stiffen as he hilted himself in Faust’s mouth, he could feel as his balls seemed to tighten while the flood of virile seed flowed up and into his body before traveling to the base of his cock, then his length before blasting out of his flared and engorged tip.
Faust almost choked when the flared head seemed to stuck itself just past her throat, out of reflex her eyes started to water as her body tried in vain to expel the meat rod that was blocking her throat but thankfully she wouldn’t be truly choking since air was being supplied directly to her lungs, plus it was almost impossible for a goddess to die like that. She felt as her master’s cock swelled from base to tip before erupting a geyser of seed directly into her stomach, she felt her master completely fill her stomach in no time and because her throat was blocked the organ had no choice but to expand due to pressure, then she felt something with a familiar shape being ruthlessly rammed into her ass and pussy, out of reflex she tried to stand but her legs were locked into place as she came. The tugging and sucking on her nipples drawing copious amounts of her ambrosia-like milk plus the pinching, tugging on her clit and the vibration around her horn just made her pussy juice flow even more, and all that was being absorbed by the suit, plus all that hornjob caused her to unconsciously channel magic through her horn and expel it in a "horngasm" or "magiculation" as some unicorns call it.
The Necrosword felt the will of its master/parent/creator/host and so it replicated his seed before pumping it into the female slave it was holding inside itself to please its master/parent/creator/host, while it understood and shared the desire to breed and feed the desire of its master/parent/creator/host took precedence, so instead of using the flesh of this female goddess to create more of itself it instead converted the substance that it was made of into the seed of its master/parent/creator/host. The All-Black could draw more power from its master/parent/creator/host to reform itself later, plus the amount it was using was but an insignificant drop in a vast ocean and it was making sure to take back from the female the necessary matter and energy to compensate for what it was spending, the female seemed to have a positive response to its master/parent/creator/host reproductive tool, so it created two replicas of it before inserting them into the two openings in the lower body of the female its master/parent/creator/host wished to breed with before filling them with just as much seed as its master/parent/creator/host was producing.
Faust felt mind-numbing pleasure as her eyes rolled up, the tears continued to stream out of her eyes and she would have screamed but her mouth was being better used at the moment. She felt two cocks hilt themselves into her, one in her pussy and one into her ass, and both of them felt just like her master’s dick, she could even feel the same heartbeat on the three cocks as their flared heads lodged inside her body in such a way that they completely blocked any possible exit and left her body to try to contain the flood of virile seed, she was sure that if it wasn’t for the spell that Grogar had on himself to not impregnate his partners Faust was sure she would end up pregnant. However, that was a moot point as her belly started to expand and by the end of Grogar’s orgasm, Faust herself looked ready to give birth to two or three foals/kids.
Once his orgasm subsided Grogar leaned back to catch his breath while Faust remain right where he left her to keep his hard cock warm as he relaxed on the couch, he could feel the connection with the Necrosword as if it was part of himself, which was in a way, and the tightness of Faust ass and pussy was just delicious. He willed the amorphous substance to cover his cock before hardening partially, then he pulled his cock from Faust’s mouth but the black substance kept its shape inside her mouth and he could still fill her tunnels quivering around his rods, plus the fucked silly look with the black BDSM mask that Faust had was just priceless.
Faust was left with her mind clouded with pleasure, her body completely unresponsive to anything but the powerful heartbeats she was feeling in her throat, rectum and vagina through the rods of goo that were in the shape of her master's cock. Here she was squatting in front of her master covered by a skin-tight black suit with only her eyes and mane visible, said eyes rolled up with tear from her pleasure overload, she never felt this slutty before. What the others would think if they ever saw her like this, the dignified and noble Faust, the Goddess of Motherhood and Fertility, acting like a common cock-hungry slut, the worst part was that such a prospective excited her further and being such a good cum-dumpster she unconsciously thighed her ass, pussy and throat, which pleased her master further.
Grogar just sat there admiring his handiwork for a while and after a while he willed the living cock gag in Faust’s mouth along with the mask to dissolve, which caused the goddess' vacant look to be replaced by one of surprise as she coughed a few globs of cum before clamping her mouth shut, her cheeks bulged a bit before she swallowed it.
“I hope you like the new set up,” said Grogar as he ran his right hand up and down his length in front of the bound goddess.
“I don't mind relinquishing control of my body but a little warning next time would be appreciated,” said Faust and her belly chose this moment to gurgle rather loudly, which caused Faust to groan before asking, “Damn, you did a number on my body, can I used the bathroom?”
“Don't worry about it, your body is far more resilient than you realize, besides it's your own fault for not trying new and more extreme activities but we are to remedy that. After all, I have been making sure to train your body to be just like I want in these last few weeks,” said Grogar as he kept masturbating himself before willing Faust to get up and turn around, then a chain burst from Faust's back, right between her shoulder blades, and its end attached itself on the ceiling while at the same time forcing Faust to lean forward until her torso was almost parallel to the floor and her hooves were firmly glued to the floor. Then the suit covered her lower face and form a cock gag and reach into her lungs again while the goo on her butt receded to show her marble colored cheeks, a thin strip of the amorphous substance remained covering her pussy and back door, it looked like she was wearing a black leotard or one-piece swimsuit but with her arms and wings bound like straitjacket.
Grogar got up and placed both hands on the soft and round marble colored buttcheeks with the familiar picture of a feather and inkwell. The sorcerer started to knead the soft flesh like one would a dough and that caused Faust to relax despite the discomfort of being so full or hanging from a chain, actually, the discomfort of the former was slowly disappearing as her body adapted. With a pulsing cock in her mouth, ass and pussy she felt like she was being spit-roasted by invisible partners while her master massaged her butt, as she thought about that her pussy and ass tightened for a moment, she was getting so turned on by this.
*thwack*
Whatever Faust was thinking was forgotten when she reeled back from a strong slap on her right butt cheek, all that accomplished was her thrusting her hips forward momentarily and accentuate her breasts and belly before a chain burst out from the front of her suit just below her neck and attach itself on the floor and drag her back to her original position. With her torso immobilized and her head being held in place by the cock in her throat she was helpless.
*thwack*
Whatever sound Faust intended to make was blocked by the suit covering her nose and mouth, only very faint and muffled noises manage to escape but they were almost impossible to hear.
*thwack**thwack**thwack**thwack**thwack*
Grogar took his time slapping that glorious butt and seeing it jiggled, wanting to see a bit more of his slave's flesh he willed the suit to turn into a G-string, a pair of heart-shaped pasties, ropes to keep her arms and wings tied on her back and a chest harness to keep her suspended by chains, he kept the cock gag harness collar combo though. Each time he slapped her would see the ripples on those redding cheeks and each time she tried to move away from his hand caused her cum-filled belly to slosh noisily, that plus the noisy suction from the pasties as the Necronsword absorbed as much milk as Faust's body could expel through her nipples as possible filled the cabin with lewd sounds.
Feeling his cock was being neglected he willed the black goo to cover it like a black condom, then the goo continued until it covered his sheath and balls before the goo itself started to massage his length and balls to the point Grogar felt like he was pistoning inside a tight and warm pussy without moving, out of reflex he would buckle his hip but other than that he returned to spanking Faust glorious behind.
*thwack**thwack**thwack**thwack**thwack*
Eventually, the wonderfully paradoxical mixture of pain and pleasure proved to be too much for Faust and she climaxed, not long after Grogar's own climax followed. As her master gripped her sensitive and almost burning backside the goo around his cock created a small hose on its tip and connected it to Faust's G-string, making sure that his seed would be pumped inside her womb. Faust received the equivalent of four loads while before she received three, however, because of the extra stimuli each load was slightly bigger than before. The goddess eyes rolled up as her belly started to inflate further, one load being basted down her throat, one load being blasted up her intestines as a cum enema, and two being dumped in her already packed womb.
Faust was on the verge of passing out as she felt her brain being overloaded by pleasure and pain, she felt her inflated organs fighting for space inside her torso, thus pushing her belly out even further. By the time both of them finished Faust's body went limp but the chains and cocks made her hold her position as she rode her high while Grogar sat on the couch behind him, a black hose still connecting his cock to Faust's G-string. Grogar was the first to recover and he just sat there admiring his handiwork. He willed the goo covering his crotch to recede and it did by joining the mass plugging Faust's holes. He just smiled at the sight of Faust's belly reaching her knees as it hung from her torso and he just licked his lips at the thought of Faust parading around Tambelon like that, it didn't matter if she was filled with his cum or his kids/foals, the thought of displaying his handiwork was more than enough to keep his cock hard and it filled him with pride, but he refrained from doing so today thinking it was enough for the next few days.
After a while, Faust started to stir and it was that moment Grogar grabbed the chain as it detached itself from the ceiling, the chain attached to the floor also let go before receding back into the harness, and Grogar pulled Faust until she was standing up, her heavy milk-laden breasts resting on her dome of taut skin that was her belly and being pushed slightly up and to the sides, then he hugged her from behind making sure to squeeze her cum-packed belly and she groaned in protest before he stopped and gave that taut belly a good slap, he watched and heard how his cum sloshed noisily inside Faust. Then he undid the ropes binding her wings and arms as well as the cock gag harness on her lower face and the harness on her chest, leaving the cream-filled goddess only with a black G-sting, a pair of heart-shaped pasties covering her nipples and still sucking her ambrosia-like milk as well as the goo that was originally keeping her hooves glued on the floor that took the form of thigh-high boots that stopped halfway through her thigh.
"You look delicious and slutty," said Grogar as he licked Faust's neck and cheek while groping her butt over her cutie mark, still sensitive from the spanking, which caused her to yelp and do a little jump. However, that proved to be a mistake because of the cum sloshing in her belly that looked big enough to fit an averagely sized pony mare sloshed with such intensity that she felt it climb her throat and immediately she clamped her mouth shut as her cheeks bulged. Grogar just chuckled as he licked Faust's bulging cheeks just before she swallowed the cum, then he asked, “I hope you are ready for when we get back to the capital? Or if I’m in the mood, whichever comes first.”
Faust gulped nervously, and to keep the cum in/down, however, she felt the cocks inside her recede as the suit slowly flowed to Grogar and when he stepped back she was completely free, with the exception of a small black ring on the base of her horn. She clutched her muscles hard but not before letting globs of cum escape and run down her legs while a stream of milk flowed from her puffy and engorged nipples like a broken pipe, she wasted no time in awkwardly waddling to the bathroom as fast as she could, which wasn't much because moving around too much caused the cum inside to slosh and that made moving even more difficult. One had covering her mouth while the other moved to the underside of her heavy midriff, she did have experience walking around with a belly this big but that only helped marginally, however, her perseverance paid off when she reached the bathroom.
Grogar just chuckled at the trail of cum and milk, mostly cum, Faust left behind in her slow trek toward the bathroom and used his magic to clean it before sitting in the armchair and relaxed, his cock slowly softening and retreating back into its sheath. Faust came out of the bathroom a few minutes later free of cum before walking toward him and sit sideways on his lap carefully, but she still winced when her butt made contact with her master's leg, and ask while placing a hand on her belly and the other on her sensitive bottom, “Did you have to be so rough?”
“Would you have me any other way?” asked Grogar, as an answer Faust just laid her head on her master’s chest and sighed contently as he gently placed one hand on her butt and used his magic to heal her, he also made sure to take back the piece of the Necronsword that was at the base of her horn, then he asked, "Feeling better?"
Faust just nodded before kissing Grogar on the cheek.
10. Meetings and politics
Late afternoon of the day they arrived, Grogar and Faust’s cabin
Grogar and Faust were sitting on the armchair, more accurately, Grogar was sitting in the armchair while Faust was sitting sideways on his lap as she placed her head on his muscular chest, which allowed her to hear the strong and steady beats of his powerful heart. The two of them were just relaxing and basking in the afterglow of their previous act, an act that Faust could never get enough of. They have been relaxing for a while and Faust was actually dozing off by the time Grogar suggested they spend some time in the hot spring.
The pair took a quick bath to clean themselves before heading out, on the shared backyard of the four cabins was the hot spring and Grogar was the first to enter on the warm and relaxing water while Faust tied her hair in a bun before entering in the spring beside her master, both of them sat there with the water just past their shoulder enjoying the suns setting in the north. Just as the second sun was setting they heard a few voices.
“C’mon Sunday, a dip in the hot spring is a good way to relax,” said an female voice, its owner hidden by the steam of the spring in the cooling air, Grogar looked to the left and saw three figures approaching and it was difficult to make out anything other than their silhouettes.
“Indeed, besides it looks like someones is already there, meeting new people outside of your job will be good for you,” said a male voice with a somewhat dull tone, it was immediately followed by a yelp and one of the silhouette hiding behind another, which caused the owner of the male voice to sigh.
Soon the three figures approached, the first was yuètù with gray fur, like all members of his species he had a slender figure that was rather androgynous but by the visible muscle, the scar over his left eye and the stoic expression on his cute yet fierce face he was quite a fighter, that was enhanced by the strips of black fur on his grey coat, he had three lines on his cheeks and a line just beneath the black tip on his ears. The second was a two-tailed fox with snow-white fur and by her wider hips and round chest that was covered a tuft of fur she was female, she had blue eyes that were similar to the “tiger bunny”. The third figure was hiding behind the white kitsune and would peek from behind said kitsune while being enveloped by the two tail, which hid the gender of the third figure and all Grogar could tell was that he or she was a yuètù as well.
“Hello,” said Faust with a warm smile as she looked at the group.
“Greetings Lady Faust, Your Majesty,” said the male yuètù before entering the hot spring and sigh in relief.
“C’mon Sun, just a dip, besides its rude, to not introduce yourself and leave His Majesty waiting,” said the female kitsune before sighing, then she said, “Look, I’ll go first, ok?”
The hidden moon hare nodded and slowly moved away from the tails of the kitsune, which showed her slim but feminine figure covered with brown, black and white fur in seemingly random spots.
“Greetings, Your Majesty, Lady Faust, I’m Sōkō but my friends call me Skye and it’s an honor to meet you,” said Skye as she bowed before looking at her male companion in the water and sigh, then she added after entering the warm water, “My partner, who apparently has no intention of introducing himself, is called Wanjin but everyone calls him Jack. I apologize for his rudeness but he tends to ignore everything that isn't related to his objective/work.”
“It’s perfectly fine,” said Grogar before looking at the nervous moon hare.
“I-I’m Shai and it’s an honor to meet you, Your Majesty, b-but my friends call me S-sun or Sunday,” said Sunday nervously as she bowed before slowly walking toward the spring, then she placed one foot at the time before sitting on the edge and slowly lower herself in the water.
“She is not very good with people, isn’t she?” asked Faust as Skye relaxed in the warm water.
“Not really, m’Lady, she very shy in general but the only times her shyness disappears is when she is doing her job,” said Skye as leaned on the stone as she let the warm water do its job.
“Oh, and what’s her job?” asked Grogar out of curiosity.
“She’s a doctor,” said Skye before sighing contently.
From there the group started to chat, Faust and Skye to be more precise and after some coaxing from Skye Sunday joined the conversation, Grogar and Jack just glanced at each other before nodding and sharing some alcohol, their drinks floating between then in a small tray of wood, all in all, it remained Grogar of Japanese hot springs from Earth. The moons were already in the sky by the time Jun without her prosthesis, Katsu and Cheng joined them it was quite funny when they saw Cheng with a smitten expression when his eyes landed on Sunday, Jun and Katsu just giggled at the awkward but adorable interaction between the two rabbits before interacting with their fellow kitsune-yuetu couple. Grogar just chuckled when Katsu’s attitude annoyed Jack enough for him to sigh in resignation and join the conversation. Soon they said their farewells before heading back to their cabins and get ready to sleep.
“Today was fun,” said Faust as she laid her head on Grogar’s chest after placing a safety spell on tip of her horn to avoid any accidents.
“Yeah,” said Grogar as he hugged Faust closer with one arm while placing his other arm behind his head, of course, he also placed a safety spell on tip of his horns.
“Good night, master,” said Faust before kissing Grogar cheek and use a wing as a blanket for both herself and her master.
“Good night, little lady,” said Grogar before closing his eyes.
Next Morning
Grogar had an interesting dream, his ability to use dark magic and his control over the shadows allowed him to connect with the Necrosword and learn of its history. He saw a Primordial God of Emptiness and Darkness, Knull, being assaulted by the light of creation, the Big Bang, and from there the invasion and battle against the Celestials as they shaped the Marvel 616 Universe. He saw as Knull shaped the darkness of the abyss into a crude sword and use said weapon to cut off the head of a Celestial. For that action, he was banished to the most distant corner of the universe and back into the void, what was left of his domain after the Celestials filled it and called it “space”. He saw how Knull created a forge in the head of the dead Celestial, a place that would eventually become Knowhere, and using the fires of creation he forged/tempered the living weapon he drew from the void. The fire of the forge and the beats of the hammer left a permanent scar on the weapon that would eventually become known as the All-Black Necrosword God-Slayer, the first Symbiote of the Universe.
The Lord of Tambelon saw as Knull started his crusade against creation to destroy the “light”, he saw how much like himself Knull slaughtered armies of gods until one lucky god struck him down and both of them fell in a desert world where his first-born was stolen by a mortal, Gorr. He saw as Knull use a fragment of his power to take over the lifeforms in that world, how he learned and evolved as he controlled many hosts when he forged symbiosis. But that only lasted until he was struck by Thor the Thunderer and he lost control over all symbiotes, how in their desperation they bonded with mortals and learned honor, nobility as well as similar values but in Knull’s mind his children were deceived and poisoned by the light of life. His children rebelled and created a prison to hold him for eternity, a prison they called Klyntar.
Grogar found the fact that the symbiote to be a mixture of darkness and emptiness to be quite fascinating, it was like they were a hybrid of Heartlesses and Nobodies but their mission of destroying life made them closer to the Elemental Force of Death, also known as The Black or The Rot, from DC. However he noticed that by technicality Knull could be considered a Void Dweller and the red marks that this version of the All-Black Necrosword had meant that it wasn’t a part of Knull but the entirety of his power and Grogar could, if he wanted, to recreate the whole of the Klyntar/Symbiote species here in Tambelon, that was an interesting prospect for his army. He also noticed that despite this Necrosword containing the memories of the original this one was forged/modified by Old Grogar himself before he took over, a parting gift so to speak.
The Dark Sorcerer opened his eyes before carefully removing himself off the bed without waking and he put on his pants before heading outside. Once outside he started to perform some movements, it was quite earlier in the morning and the sky was still dark and the suns had not risen yet. Since his companions were here to relax he opted for letting them sleep, by the time the first sun was visible on the horizon he had a bit of sweat running down his face and he was visited by another early riser.
“I’m surprised you would train your body,” said Jack as he walked up to Grogar wearing just a pair of shorts.
“Is that so?” asked Grogar without interrupting his routine.
“In my experience, mages prefer studying and nobles don’t like to make an effort in general unless they are raised in a warrior culture, like the gryphons,” said Jack as he placed a water bottle and towel on a nearby rock.
“I am of the opinion that all the knowledge in the universe is useless if you can’t act on it, so better to have a body that can keep up with the mind than die because you failed to move,” said Grogar as he finished his routine.
“Wise words, Your Majesty,” said Jack as he stretched his muscles and once he finished he asked, “Would you be up for a spar?”
“With or without magic?” asked Grogar as he assumed his battle stance after making a spell to create a circle around them.
“With,” said Jack simply as he too assumed his battle stance.
At some invisible signal Grogar barely had the time to blink by the time he defended Jack’s first attack by raising his arm left arm, that happened after two runic circles appeared beneath Jack’s feet with the purpose of enhancing his speed, then he jumped slightly to the side before creating a platform with another runic circle, which he used as leverage to jump at Grogar’s head with a flying jump kick that would have gotten past the curve of his horn and hit his jaw.
“Oh, no mercy whatsoever, uh?” commented Grogar as he lowered his left arm and using his great strength he used his left leg as a leverage point to perform a roundhouse kick, under normal circumstances Jack would be defenceless in mid-air but the tiger rabbit just made a platform with another runic circle to jump away from Grogar. The dark sorcerer commented after performing the kick and return to his initial stance in one fluid motion, “Good grasp of runic magic and you also have more bite than expected for a species that normally is prey and rather passive.”
“You are one to talk if the stories about you are any indication,” snorted Jack as he faced Grogar, the irony of that comment about prey and passiveness was not lost to him, especially coming from a goat.
“Cocky aren’t we?” said Grogar as he showed his fangs with a smile.
“At my age, it’s just the experience talking and it’s not arrogance if you can back it up,” said Jack as runes appeared on the back of his hands and feet, then a flurry of punches launched invisible bullets of air and his kicks launched invisible wind blades.
Grogar just used the same runes and matched each projectile launched by Jack, each time the invisible projectiles met a small spark and an explosion was heard, like firecrackers. That had the unfortunate effect of waking the occupants of the nearby cabins and most of them peeked out of their windows to see what was making that noise this early in the morning. Most of them just peeked through the window but some of them came out and seemed to be ready for their morning exercises. However, neither Grogar nor Jack paid attention to them as they kept their barrage of invisible projectiles, eventually, Jack sidestepped and was about to land on another platform to attack Grogar but Grogar overlaid his own runic circle over Jack’s and that caused the rabbit to phase through the runic circle and land on the ground.
“It seems you have lost,” commented Grogar and Jack raised an eyebrow, so the sorcerer pointed down and Jack followed his finger and saw that he was outside of the sparring circle that was set up previously.
“It seems so,” said Jack as he deactivated the runes on his hands and feet.
“So, an enforcer, huh?” commented Grogar and Jack just snorted before walking to where he placed his bottle of water and took a few sips. Enforcer, mages that focused exclusively in practical combat application and were giving their name by their duty of hunting down and kill mystical threats, which included rogue mages, as well as reinforcing the Mage’s Guild’s regulations, some of which were written by Grogar itself, some of them were even part or worked part-time in the Warrior’s Guild. After this little recollection, Grogar asked, “So, for how long have you worked as an Enforcer?”
“Um, it has been around a century or so since I became an Enforcer,” answered Jack as Grogar sat beside him while the other decided to start their morning routine since they were already awake. That little tidbit of information draw the attention of Jun but she didn’t show any reaction outside of the sightly twitch of one of her ears, which was not lost to Katsu. Not far from them was Rime and Agate doing some katas and they seemed full of energy today.
“A rather long life for a yuètù,” commented Grogar before taking a sip of water from a bottle offered by Faust.
“Indeed, only thanks to a promise I made, a contract,” said Jack as he looked at the morning sky.
“I see,” said Grogar before asking, “With who?”
Jack only response was a quick glance to the snow white kitsune doing a morning run with Katsu and Jun was all the answer Grogar needed. The goat had no intention of asking which type of contract was made, after all, it wasn't his business. As both males rested Faust returned with a few trays of food floating behind her and helping her was Cheng as well as Sunday. Soon enough, everyone was gathered for a picnic and the all of them shared the first meal of the day.
“Mmm, it’s a while since I had a meal this delicious, I hope you can give me some tips, m’Lady?” asked Skye as she looked at Faust and by the glances that Sun was giving the kitsune she was also interested but it was too shy to ask.
“I wouldn’t mind, dear,” said Faust with a warm tone.
“So, are you three going to stay here for long?” asked Jun before taking a sip of her coffee.
“Seven days,” answered Jack with a dull and stoic tone.
*chuckle* “That makes a funny reference,” said Echo after Jack said that particular line, which brought up the memory of a certain horror movie, on the outside Grogar showed no reaction as he slowly drunk is morning tea.
“Yeah, our plan was to spend our break, ten days, here this little town before returning to Agartha. This is our third day here,” clarified Skye before starting a little dispute with Katsu over some berries.
“Indeed, let’s just enjoy our time here,” said Rime before raising her mug of coffee.
“Cheers!” said everyone as they did the same.
Six days later, late at night
“Are you sure you don't want me to accompany you?” asked Faust with a worried tone as she stood at the door, she was wearing her favorite nightgown and was not bothered by the fact she was exposing herself to anyone passing by, not that there were many people walking around at this hour with the exception of the guards patrolling the place.
“There is no need, my dear,” said Grogar before kissing the alicorn on the lips tenderly. Then he said with a reassuring tone, “Its just a meeting and it will probably take all night, plus tomorrow I need to check on the Umbrums and Windigos.”
“Just be careful, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you again, master,” said Faust before hugging Grogar.
“Don’t worry, little lady, I’ll be back no matter what,” said Grogar and Faust nodded before pulling back, then Grogar picked the Mother Box on his belt as he donned his living cloak.
*ping**BOOM*
“Thank, my dear,” said Grogar to the Mother Box before he attached it to his belt again. Then he turned to Faust and said before walking through the portal, “See you tomorrow, little lady.”
Aarukamma, the city of the gods
Grogar walked out of the Boom Tube and emerged in an ancient looking city, the placed was made of stone and the simple houses looked like houses from antiquity, however, despite the simplicity in their design they were well decorated both with both precious metals and plants. It was like a combination of a city and a garden, that combined with the many pyramids and towers that could be seen all over the city also gave the impression of a giant temple complex. It was like all the great ancient cities of Antiquity were seamlessly blended together, or better yet it was as if all other cities were based in aspects of this one, maybe this was what the world would have looked like at the time of The Great Tower of Babel, which was appropriated when looking at the central tower in the city. The city itself was surrounded by green and fertile land and that eventually gave way to the shore that led to the crystal clear water, all of that floating in an endless sky that existed both above and below, its orange tint gave the impression of dusk despite not having either stars or sun(s) visible.
“It reminds me of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,” commented Echo.
“Indeed it does,” said Grogar before walking toward the central tower, as he approached the tower he was greeted by a crowd of lesser gods and goddesses in the great plaza surrounding the central tower. Once he passed the crowd he stood in front of the entrance he was greeted by two armored figures, both were goats like Grogar himself and they were quite tall, the first was around the same height while the second was a few inches taller than Grogar himself actually.
The first was a white goat with two horns curving backward coming from the top of his head, he had quite a muscular and well-sculptured figure, only the fact that Grogar knew who this figure was allowed the sorcerer to identify him as male because otherwise, his rather androgynous figure that was covered by his purple and golden armor was borderline impossible to tell his gender. His well-groomed fur told everyone around him of his vanity, the well kept armor and sword told everyone around him for his perfectionism, lastly, the red cape hanging on his back and being held on his pauldrons by to small ornamental golden wings told everyone present of his status. The second was also a white goat with two horns that curve up and twisted to the side before pointing back, unlike the first he had a really masculine figure with his broad shoulders and narrow hips, what was not covered by his royal blue and gold armor. His fur while well kept it was also average, his posture denoted discipline and pragmatism as did the good conditions of his equipment.
“It has been a while, Heron, Arash,” said Grogar as he looked into the purple jewel-like eyes of the first armored figure before turning to look into the clear blue eyes of the second figure.
“Father,” said Arash Hrod as he nodded, it was short and to the point.
“Your sons and daughters will be elated to be in the presence of our exalted father once again,” said Heron Fulgur, his voice overflowing with pride and vanity, however, it also felt like silk to the ears of those who heard it, like a work of art that mesmerized other and he knew it. Then his expression brightened and that combined with the somewhat long fur on his blowing on the breeze gave him an almost painting like quality as he said, “Maybe we should plan a little family reunion.”
“That will be for a later date, maybe after my visit to Agartha and Atlantis,” said Grogar as entered the tower and his two sons following him.
“Maybe we should gather in Agartha,” suggested Arash with a thoughtful look.
“As if I would lower myself to enter a hole in the ground, brother,” snorted Heron and he glared at Arash. Then he suggested, “Atlantis would be a far more appealing place to visit, plus the rich architecture and beautiful marine life would make a fine place for our reunion.”
“You know that not all of us will agree simply because you said so,” said Arash as he glared at Heron.
“Enough,” said Grogar with a calm tone but the finality in it was evident and the two brothers stopped, then Grogar added, “I will choose the place and date but I wouldn’t oppose to a little get-together after this is over. Now, its time for the meeting.”
“Yes father,” said both of them as the trio emerged in a great auditorium, instead of stands/bleachers it had many platforms, the ceiling of this hemispherical was decorated with arcane runes of many languages that gave the impressions of stars and the line made the place feel like an observatory filled with star maps. Each platform had a dial of stone with runes on the front and in the platform itself, there were a variety of decorations and items of furniture that seemed to match their occupants' cultures/needs.
“It looks rather similar to the Galactic Senate Chamber from Star Wars, only more magical,” commented Echo and Grogar just gave a mental nod as he and his sons walked to a platform in the center of the Chamber’s floor, the circular platform had a single throne in its center. Whispered could be heard as Grogar sat on the throne and Heron stood beside him while Arash pressed some runes on the dial, which caused the platform to float up until it was halfway to the ceiling at the center of the room. This meeting occurred once a year or when something that affected the majority of their universe of Tambelon as a hole, which included his return and the emergence of not one but two new species, but that was incredibly rare.
Grogar looked around and saw that many platforms were occupied, major and minor deities of many species, there were also some proxies/representative of deities that didn’t leave their realms for one reason or another. Grogar just announced, “Let this meeting begin.”
A few hour later
The meeting was long and boring in Grogar’s opinion like any political gathering alliances were made and unmade, Grogar himself remained mostly as an observer but he did interject once in a while. This meeting was merely a formality but one he had to deal with, however, it held great importance due to the fact that it was the first meeting that Grogar himself was attending, his awakening marking the beginning a new era for everyone, literally since this year would now be considered the year 0 of the Second Era or AA(After Awakening) to mark Grogar’s return. Truly a historical occasion, the only ones that weren’t present were the ones that were either occupied by some task, like ones that Grogar tasked with watching the Umbrums and Windigos, or were unwilling to leave their realm(s) for one reason or another, which included the Top 5 strongest deities in Kamagati.
*chuckle*
“Something amuses you, father?” asked Heron as he heard Grogar chuckled.
“Just musings of an old goat,” said Grogar as he observed the ongoing meeting, floating platforms coming and going as deities talked in the annual meeting.
“Such as…” started Arash before trailing off.
“Just that in all those millennia the Top 5 remained unchanged and while the lower half of the Top 10 suffered some changes only one of you managed to enter that list,” commented Grogar and while Arash just shrugged Heron had a look of disdain twisting his almost perfect features.
“Why did let those disgusting creatures even live in the first place? They are nothing but abominations and only Neth and her forces are tolerable,” said Heron his beautiful face twisted and the bloodlust he was radiating actually caught the attention of some of the gods present.
“Your opinion is irrelevant, brother, they were allies of our father and they held their end of the deal, as such they were entitled to a piece of Kamagati,” commented Arash with his harsh and objective tone.
“Besides, ‘abominations’ is rather subjective and I have no problem with them, I actually enjoy their company and I won’t deny worthy allies because they offend your sense of beauty,” said Grogar before Heron could retort to Arash’s comment and after that they remained in silence. It didn’t take long for the meeting to end and the three left the tower, then Grogar asked, “How many of you are here in the city?”
“Just the two of us for the meeting and Maha is in the city for personal reasons,” Arash informed his father as they walked toward the city.
“Well, there is a group I intend to meet and we can talk before I head back to Tambelon,” said Grogar and Arash nodded.
“Who are you meeting, father?” asked Heron.
“Your aunts,” answered Grogar and the brothers just raised an eyebrow each.
Author's Note
Sorry for the long wait. Anyway, I got a bit of inspiration when I read Venom Vol 4 Issue 4, with told the origin of the Symbiote race and showed the very first Symbiote, which happened to be the All-Black Necronsword, as well as its creator K nul l
Inspirations for the names:Wànjī nyóu(万金油). A literal translation would be "10,000 gold oil". The character itself is based on Jack Savage
Sōkō - comes from the Japanese ideograms for "Blue" and "Light", she is based on Skye Winter, also from the cut content from Zootopia.
Heron Fulgur - "Heron" is a bird from which the Phoenix was based on in Egyptian Mythology, it comes from BNW or "gray heron", while Fulgur is Latin for "lighting". The character itself is based on Fulgrim The Phoenician and the Primarch Emperor's Children Traitor Legion , from Warhammer 40k.
Arash Hrod - "Arash" means either "truthfulness" or "bright" in Persian while "Hrod" means "fame" from Old Norse. The character itself is based on Roboute Guilliman Primarch Ultramarines
11. More Meetings but with less politics.
Warning: some graphical descriptions in this chapter.
Grogar and his two sons headed toward one of the city’s many inns, after all, aside from those that lived here gods and mortals constantly visited Aarukamma.
“So, how many people are we expecting?” asked Arash as he walked at Grogar’s right, his armored hooves thudding against the stone of the ground.
“I actually don’t know how many of them are present in the city, let me check,” said Grogar and Arash nodded while Grogar closed his eyes and stretched his senses to find two familiar presences. Once he found Sheol and Shuma he sent a telepathic message, “Hello there, Sheol, Shuma.”
“My Lord!” responded Sheol and Shuma in surprise.
“Sorry to bother you, but would you two accept an invitation for breakfast?” asked Grogar amicably.
“Well, we wouldn’t oppose m’Lord but we are currently with our husbands and sisters here in the city,” answered Sheol.
“Perfect, I’m also in the city with two of my sons and we are going to meet with another. Would you and your family like to come with us for breakfast?” asked Grogar.
“No we wouldn’t m’Lord,” said Shuma.
“Perfect, are all eight of you there?” asked Grogar and he receive a mental nod, so he opened his eyes and answered Arash’s previous question, “Eight people.”
“A little more than expected but it should be fine,” commented Heron.
“We will be meeting Maha in the Lunar Ambrosia Inn in the Eastern section of the Middle Ring,” said Arash and Grogar communicate the location of the place to Sheol and Shuma before receiving another mental nod from the pair.
“Will any more of your siblings be joining us?” asked Grogar and Arash shook his head as they walked through the city, moving away from the tower toward the east, which was difficult considering the sky was in an eternal twilight/dusk. They passed beneath the aqueduct that masked the division between the Central and the Middle Ring, from there they walked through the city until they reached a rather large building, one that could easily be equated to a mansion. However, the surrounding area was occupied by many tables, on the inside of the mansion the whole floor was converted into a dining hall with bar counters evenly spread throughout the place.
“Greetings m’Lords, would you like a table for three?” asked the receptionist, a young centauress, her humanoid torso had brown and white fur coat on her arms and it extended to her quadruped torso, she was wearing a nice but simple formal blue sleeves robes with a silver moon decorating the right side of the chest and the back. She obviously had bovine ancestry if judging by the fact that her humanoid torso looked like a minotauress and her quadruped torso was that of a cow.
“That won’t be necessary, my dear, we are here to meet with someone in a private dining hall. A red goat by the name of Maha,” said Heron and the young centauress blushed at Heron’s charm before she shook her head and her horns glowed for a moment before a scroll appeared in her hands. After looking for a bit she seemed to find what she was looking for before bowing and motioning for them to follow while saying, “This way, my Lords.”
As they followed the young centauress Heron just looked at her rump as the group climbed the stairs, Grogar didn’t comment but Arash just rolled his eyes as he saw how his brother was practically drinking the centauress’ behind with his eyes. Again, must creatures didn’t have a problem with nudity but it was considered rude to stare, especially when people walked around without clothes, and most centaurs don’t cover their quadruped parts. Anyway, once the group was on the second floor the receptionist led the trio through a luxurious hallway and they passed a few doors before she stopped in front of one and gently knocking. Then she opened and said, “Excuse me, Your Highness, the ones you were expecting have arrived.”
“Thank you, that will be all,” said a regal and cultured voice from inside the room.
“As you wish,” said the young centauress before moving out of the way and bow. Arash and Heron entered the room.
“We will be expecting more guests and they might ask for me instead of Maha,” said Grogar before entering the private dining hall.
“We shall inform you when they arrive,” said young centauress before leaving while Grogar entered the dining hall.
The room itself was decorated with statues on the four corners and along the walls, a chandelier made of crystal floating above the table that was long and spacious enough for at least twenty people. Aside from Arash and Heron who were sitting on the left side of the table near the end, there were two other goats on the table directly in front of them, both were goats. The first was similar to Heron in a sense, he had an androgynous figure that while muscular it wasn’t as evident and he was slightly shorter than Grogar himself, he was covered in golden armor with purple decorations, the opposite of Heron’s, his fur was reddish brown but he had a long red mane with black highlights, his horns came from his temples and curved slightly up before twisting forward, he also had a purple left eye while the right side of his face was covered by a scar tissue. The second was like a smaller version —being around 7ft 8in— of the first but with horns curving up before twisting and pointing straight up in addition to the two horns that were similar to the red goat, his fur being a dark blue a shade lighter than Grogar’s and his armor was red and less decorated, plus he lacked the mane.
“Hello, father,” said Maha Iode, the red goat, as he looked away from the book he was reading before attaching it to a chain on his the left side of his belt.
“Hi there, Maha,” said Grogar as he sat on the head of the table before glancing at the smaller goat and asked, “Who is he?”
“Greeting, Your Majesty, its an honor to be before you,” said the smaller blue goat as got up and placed his right fist on his chest, “I’m Manda Buthos, Prince Maha’s second in command.”
“And also my son,” said Maha and as Grogar looked at his grandson he looked at Arash who was glaring at Heron, then he said, “Let me guess, he was being his incorrigible self with either the young centauress or the young male ahuizotl working on the reception.”
*sigh*“The former,” said Arash and Maha’s horns started to glow purple and a bottle of wine floated to Arash who accepted the bottle. Then he commented, “Of all the siblings I had to be paired up with him for this meeting.”
“Why, brother? You speak as if it’s a bad thing,” said Heron, arrogance and self-centeredness was practically oozing from his voice, that plus the sarcasm made his brothers groan in frustration. Then he turned to face his father and asked, “So, last I heard you were traveling around Tambelon with Faust, just doing some sightseeing and searching for a romantic spot? Or just the perfect place to ravish her.”
“Frankly, that’s none of your business. You don’t see me asking what and who you do with or where,” said Grogar as he took a sip of his wine.
“Indeed, brother, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong,” said Maha as he too took a sip of his wine and talk to himself, “Knowing him its probably between the legs of some of his soldiers.”
“You speak as if it’s a bad thing,” said Heron in a coy tone.
“Honestly, I’m surprised all of your soldiers are not always involved in a legion, wide orgy,” grumbled Maha.
“We try that once but we had to stop at some point, so instead I decided to have a never-ending but smaller orgy in my castle and the participants just switch in and out. Fun times, especially with my shapeshifting,” commented Heron absently.
*groan*“Why one of the few siblings that have similar powers to me insist in wasting them in his vain and hedonistic pursuits?" asked Maha as he facepalmed.
“Huh, better than wasting my time with my nose buried in dusty old tomes,” commented Heron with disdain in his voice before adding, “If wasn’t for the fact I know some of the fathers and mothers of your kids I would question if you made them in a lab or something similar.”
“Do not mock my pursuit of knowledge,” said Maha as his body was enveloped by a purple aura as his eye glowed and in response, Heron’s body started to glow with a lilac tone as did his eyes.
“Enough,” said Grogar calmly but with power and finality, which caused the aura of both princes to subside.
“See what I have to deal with, father,” said Arash as he gesture toward his brothers.
“I remembered to teach you to always be true to yourselves and to always treasure family, whether you pursue your own pleasure, knowledge about existence, constant self-improvement or something else entirely it doesn’t matter,” said Grogar and the two just glared at each other for a moment.
“Tch,” was the response of Maha and Heron before looking away from each other. After that, they remained civil and the five of them just talked about what happened in the millennia that Grogar was absent, then they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Your Majesty, your guests have arrived,” said the young centauress as she opened the door and Grogar just nodded before moving out of the way as he got up and meet Shuma and Sheol.
“Shuma, Sheol, its good to see you two again,” said Grogar as he hugged the two goddesses.
“Its good to see you again, m’Lord,” said Sheol before kissing Grogar on the cheek and Shuma did the same soon after.
“Let us introduce our sisters,” said Shuma as she motioned the rest of the group she and her sister came with.
Next to the black goats were two 9ft tall minotauresses with a black fur coat, similar to the two goats they were wearing simple yet elegant grey tunic-like collarless dresses with a root-like pattern and with the side seams opened below the waist-line, that was over a loose pajama-like trousers and to finish they had a large sash wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder and baring the midriff. Both had pleasantly full and motherly figures that exuded grace, experience and warmth that only a mother could show, all of that was enhanced by their exposed pregnant bellies that looked quite big even for someone of their sizes and like all minotauresses that reach that stage of their lives their breasts seemed full and heavy but ready to be milked. Their horns came from their temples before curving up and slightly forward, incidentally their horns, as well as Sheol and Shuma’s, were decorated with golden rings and all four of them had bracelets and earrings, the only difference between the two minotauresses, aside of the jewels they had, was that one had a purple sash over her right shoulder with a floral pattern while the other had her a blue sash over her left shoulder with flowing patterns that one would associate with water giving the impression of a river.
“Your Majesty, the one with the blue sari is Utprith, she is the oldest of us,” said Sheol as she gestured toward the minotauress with the blue sash over her left shoulder.
“Sheol, there is no need to comment on my age, what His Majesty would think?” asked Utprith feigning embarrassment.
“And the one with the purple sari is Ulldhu,” said Shuma and Ulldhu just waved at Grogar almost shyly, especially at the intense look Grogar was giving the two sisters.
“Ok, something like this can not be a coincidence,” commented Echo.
“Indeed, someone is behind this,” replied Grogar as he placed his hands on the cheeks of the two minotauresses and they felt a sense of familiarity. Everyone just looked confused at this gesture but Sheol and Shuma recognized the action and the expression on their sisters' faces.
“My Lord, are they…” started Shuma.
“… like us?” Sheol finished her sister's question.
“Yes,” answered Grogar, much to the confusion of those present, before adding, “There is no way that four of my siblings reincarnated as sisters in the same family all at once. Someone or something is behind this.”
Grogar took in the four stags/harts that came with his sisters and the reincarnation of his two youngest brothers while Sheol and Shuma explained what was going on and his sons and grandson listened with mild interest as they waited for the introductions to be finished. All four of them had a reddish brown fur coat and their slender frames were mostly exposed, there were drawings of lines that weaved and flowed together on their arms and pecs giving a Norse/Celtic vibe. The first had dark green spaulder with forest green edges over his left shoulders with and being held by a strap across his chest while his antlers had small amounts of moss hanging. The second had two light blue spaulders with gray edges over his shoulders being held by straps across his chest and his antlers seemed at first to have small jewels stuck in them but upon closer inspection, it was dew reflecting light. The third had a sandy brown spaulder with auburn edges over his right shoulder and his antlers seemed to have a thin layer of dust. Lastly, the fourth had no armor and his antlers had small flowers that seemed to be colored spots on his horns.
“And the four of you would be?” asked Grogar wanting to get the instructions out of the way, while he was happy at the fact that he was reunited with four of his siblings so far he was also angry at the fact that something or someone dared to disrupt his family's rest in the afterlife.
“I’m named Dainrot, Your Majesty,” said the one without armor and flowery antlers
“I'm called Dunera,” said the one with sandy colored armor and dusty antlers.
“I am Duratet,” said the one with light blue armor and dew covered antlers.
“And I’m Dvaliyrnir,” said the one with green armor and moss-covered antlers.
Grogar nodded before returning to his seat and once he was there the eight new guests took four seats on each side of the table, then Maha asked, “Father, you seem to be upset, is everything okay?”
“I wasn't my intention to ruin the atmosphere and while I'm happy to be with four of my siblings…” started Grogar before trailing off.
“The fact that all four of them ended in the same family as siblings is concerning because the chance of that happening is so astronomically small that there isn't even a number to express it,” concluded Maha.
“Which means that their reincarnation was by design,” added Arash and that bit of information worried the family of eight.
“Exactly, someone or something disrupted my siblings’ afterlife,” said Grogar as his eyes glowed red and the oily shadows that made his cloak seemed to writhe in response.
“Do you want us to investigate and hunt down whoever is responsible for this, father?” asked Heron as he looked at his father and ignored the eldritch feeling that he got from his father's cloak.
“No, I have a feeling about who is responsible for this, my only question is ‘why they did it?’,” said Grogar before taking a deep breath and say, “But let's not dwell on it and just enjoy a good meal.”
Not long after a knock was heard on the door and a waiter came in, a young female ahuizotl with dark blue as well as light blue fur on her muzzle and hands, she had yellow sclera with green feline-like eyes, she was wearing the same blue and silver robes as the receptionist, from behind her was a long and sinuous tail with a hand in its end holding a small stack of papers. She carefully approached the head of the table and handed one of the papers to Grogar, the menu, while saying, “Your Majesty.”
From there they chose their meal and the waitress just took their orders before leaving while saying, “I’ll back be with your order shortly.”
“So, who knew that one of greatest sources of recruits for the Imperial Legions and the Imperial Army was the reincarnation of four of father’s six siblings?” commented Heron and that caused the four deer to frown. Heron was infamous for his hedonistic pursuits as well as being a perfectionist and it was no surprise that his legion was the same. All princes that proven themselves were given an Imperial Legion to lead and every one of them were responsible for enforcing His Majesty's rules through Kamagati while the Imperial Army did the same in Tambelon, however, the Legions had the advantage of being “blessed” by their leaders and considering the enormity of their task it was no surprise that fertility deities were the best source of recruits for the military in general.
“I would appreciate if you didn’t make it sound like its all we are good for,” said Utprith with an indignant tone before taking a sip of her juice.
“Indeed, Prince Heron, I would appreciate if you didn't direct such comments at our wives,” commented Dainrot after putting down his mug of mead.
“I apologize for his attitude, he tends to be insufferable when he is in a good mood,” said Arash with an apologetic tone.
“‘Our’, Faust did mention that you were all marriage but I never asked if it was a group marriage or not,” said Grogar absently.
“Group,” said Arash and Maha at the same time, Grogar just shrugged and the group just chatted amicably as they waited for their food. After their meal arrived they ate their meal and spend the morning just catching up, while it was awkward at first to met his brothers reincarnations but gender wasn’t really a factor in reincarnation and he knew many shapeshifters as well as mages that were very found to the gender changing spells, so he got over that pretty quickly.
Two hour later
*ping*
Their conversation was interrupted by the Mother Box detaching herself from Grogar’s belt and floating beside her owner/user to inform him of a new token she acquired.
“Really? From who?” asked Grogar.
*ping*
“An Ōtsutsuki? That might complicate thing in the future,” commented Grogar.
“Father, what is this strange device?” asked Maha, curiosity evident in his voice.
“This is a Mother Box, a living computer made with incredibly complex combination of magic and science capable of high dimensional calculations as well as creating connection through time and space,” explained Grogar and since MB floating at Grogar’s right she was also Maha’s left, the red goat reached out to grab her but MB floats away.
*ping*
Maha didn’t understand what MB said but he could feel that MB was rather crossed, then he turned to his father and asked, “Would you mind lending it to me? I wouldn’t mind reverse engineering it.”
However, that seemed to be the wrong thing to say as a suffocating amount of bloodlust descended upon the room while the eldritch void that was Grogar’s cloak started to spread like a heavy miasma. Grogar had enough control to not let the Necrosword touch his “sisters” and their husbands, despite the fact that his sons and grandson were relatively unprotected they just tensed and their eyes hardened with a strength that was familiar to the gods of old, after all, they were not only from Grogar’s own lineage but he made sure to train them to lead his armies.
“I would appreciate if you don't take that tone with my friend, boy. She is a fully sentient and divine being,” said Grogar and the shadows seemed to be ready to reach for the ones that angered its master and savagely tearing their flesh before devouring it as the living abyss that it was.
“I apologize for my rudeness,” said Maha as his eye glowed with a mysterious energy ready to fight, he respected his father but was unwilling to die without a fight.
“It's not me you should be apologizing to,” said Grogar as he held out his right hand with MB floating just above it.
“I apologize for my rudeness,” repeated Maha but this time directing the apology toward MB.
*ping*
After MB’s answer, the room returned to normal and everybody just sighed in relief.
“I apologize for ruining our reunion, but I think it's better we part ways,” said Grogar as he got up and the other did the same before heading out, they paid for their meal and Grogar asked his sisters, “Where are you heading?”
“Back to our home in the Plains of Cerap’nos,” said Ulldhu with a bit of confusion.
*ping* *BOOM*
After the black minotauress’ answer MB opened a Boom Tube at Grogar’s silent request while Grogar himself said, “Let me at least make sure you arrive home safely.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said the eight of them before walking through the portal, which Maha was looking at with burning curiosity.
“You had to open your mouth like you did, hadn’t you?” asked Arash knowing that despite everything Maha could be rather tactless and blunt in inopportune times.
“I regret the question, more specifically its wording, not its meaning or its intent,” said Maha as he crossed his arms while Manda stood behind him, then he turned toward his father and asked, “Regardless of that… she seemed to have informed you of something and you said that it could complicate things in the future. Regardless of you being our father, you entrusted the safety of Kamagati to us, so I obligated to ask, what happened?”
“My Mother Box just informed me of a new token,” said Grogar.
“Token?” asked Heron as he raised an eyebrow.
“A ‘calling card’ if will, an artifact capable of summoning another being from outside of both Kamagati and Aurbis, a group of beings simply known as Displaced,” explained Grogar and this caused the four others to tense, universes outside the Void of Voids was unthinkable. Upon seeing their expression Grogar just smiled wickedly as he asked, “Where do you think I was all the time my body sat undisturbed upon the throne?”
“Do we need to prepare for an incursion?” asked Arash with a professional tone befitting of the third highest authority in the whole Tambelonian Empire.
“No, there is a barrier outside of our ‘Local Multiversal Cluster’ and it would be almost impossible to breach or sneak ‘around’ it, however, it’s possible to invite them in using their tokens to call them, I might even create a token of my own in the future,” explained Grogar.
“You said ‘almost impossible’, what should we expect if the barrier fails?” asked Maha after paying attention to his father words.
“Well, Displaced can vary to barely above a mortal to above my level, so anything just as strong as me and beyond but they might be weakened afterward,” explained Grogar and his sons nodded before Maha looked at Manda, who extended his right hand and a staff appeared. The staff itself was black and taller them Manda himself, in its end was a red jewel that was shaped like an eye and it had two horns similar to the upper pair of Manda’s horns. The sorcerer hit the blunt end of his staff on the ground and a purple portal appeared near the group by unfolding the air in front of them.
“Well, we should be going,” said Maha and Arash nodded.
“Indeed, there is much to consider,” said Heron an uncharacteristic serious tone as he followed his brothers and nephew into the portal that lead to realm/dimension where all princes lived along with their Legions, one of the closest realms to the mortal plane, like the moons to the planet.
*ping* *BOOM*
Gragar walked through the Boom Tube that MB created after his sons and grandson left.
Frozen North, Plains of Everlasting Night
Grogar came out of the Boom Tube just outside of the barrier holding the umbrums and windigos, it had been seven days on the outside but inside the barrier it had been almost a decade. Deciding to wait for the moment the barrier will come down he lifted the mother box and asked, “Show me the Phantom Ring and the Ōtsutsuki Contract.”
*ping*
A small silver ring and a bound scroll materialized just above the Mother Box and Grogar reached for the silver ring, then he heard it once he touched the ring, “I’m Volthoom the Acolyte of the Emotional Spectrum, Avatar of the Elemental Forces, the Emperor of Light and First of the Lanterns, if you seek to protect the treasure that is life itself, then I shall fight beside you. However, If I don't agree with you I shall either leave, fight you or not answer the call at all, you are free to call me at your own peril.”
“To the one that is hearing my voice, I am Ōtsutsuki Kazuki and if you are in need of my services sign this contract and summon me. We can negotiate the conditions of our contract after my summoning, I don’t care about morals and so long our contract is upheld you have my loyalty. Write your name with your life-essence and pour your energy into the scroll before calling out my full name,” Grogar heard another voice in his mind as he picked the scroll, after the message played out he opened the scroll and as he read its content he became fascinated by the complex spell work, however, he could sense many forms of energy aside from mana fueling different parts of the complex construct.
Grogar was so distracted by the token that he only came back to reality when a thunder-like noise disturbed his studies and when he looked at the barrier he saw that it was slowly disappearing. Just before the barrier disappeared completely Rasvelg, Aethon, Hungin and Munin appeared before Grogar, all of the four avian deities were kneeling before the Dark Lord.
“Speak,” ordered Grogar.
“Your Majesty, they have developed an entirely new society in the last decade as you ordered,” reported Hungin.
“It was quite fascinating to watch as these former formless beings adapted, especially why they developed their s-” Munin started to rambling but Grogar motioned for him to stop.
“Where are Dimmelith, Innandna, Abyzoyllou and Varcolac?” asked Grogar as he noticed their absence and once again he saw Aethon clench her beak and fists while radiating frustration as well as envy. It wasn’t long before he concluded, “Oh, by any chance did they acquired a ‘cult following’?”
“Indeed, My Lord, those four became quite popular among umbrums and windigos, especially Lord Varcolac,” said Hungin and by Aethon’s glare that was the reason for her frustration, her zealotry did make her rather unpopular.
Not long after Hungin informed Grogar the aforementioned four Old Gods appeared, the three demonesses knelt down before Grogar completely unbothered by the cold or the fact they were naked, on a side note their bellies unlike before were almost flat again, which showed their chiseled abs, but it was starting to bulge again with the beginning of clearly yet another baby bump. Standing on all four behind the trio on all four was a familiar wolf-like beast with horns and on his back was the umbrum/windigo pair that Grogar met before, they climbed out of Varcolac’s back before kneeling slightly behind the trio.
“Just answer me this, have they met your expectations?” asked Grogar, which caused Rabi and Fon to tense, depending on the answer all they worked for could be in vain.
“Yes,” said Rasvelg, Hungin and Munin simply.
“No,” said Aethon.
“Definitely,” purred Dimmelith, Innandna and Abyzoyllou, which caused Rabi and Fon to sigh in relief since the majority of the judges voted in their favor.
“Aye,” said Varcolac and Grogar just nodded before approaching Rabi and Fon who tensed.
“Well then, welcome to Tambelon and may you have a long and prosperous existence,” said Grogar to the two leaders.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said Rabi and Fon.
“So, which one of you got the honor of being their patron deity?” asked Grogar coyly.
“That would be me,” said Varcolac as he lowered his head to be near Rabi and Fon before adding, “They were quite receptive to my power and quite compatible with my philosophy. Speaking of which, now we have many new recruits ready to join the Hunter’s Guild as well as the Fighter’s Guild.”
“And what about those four?” asked Grogar gesturing toward the avian deities.
“We were merely observers, Your Majesty, but we did help in enlighten them about Kamagati,” commented Munin and his brother nodded.
“While we had some compatibility our presence didn’t have much of impact,” said Rasvelg calmly but that statement seemed to be enough to trigger his daughter.
“My Emperor! I beg for your forgiveness, I failed in the task of guiding these mortals, to make them see your true magnificence!” shouted Aethon as he hit her forehead on the ground. Then she continued, “We are all unworthy of your mercy, especially when we failed to show you the proper respect.”
“I see,” said Grogar with a neutral tone before lifting MB with his right hand.
*ping* *BOOM*
Rasvelg got up and after placing his hand on his daughter's shoulder she too got up before following her father toward the Boom Tube with her head down feeling that she failed Her Emperor.
“Well, we shall be off and inform the others,” said Hungin before hitting his staff on the ground and teleport himself and his brother away.
“And what about you three?” asked Grogar as the trio stood up before seductively walking toward Grogar with a sway of their hips before they hugged themselves against Grogar’s muscular body using both their arms and wings as well as their tails, their 7ft 7in frames contrasting against Grogar 10ft frame.
“We had a very productive decade,” said Abyzoyllou as she looked at her master with purple eyes while placing his left hand on her belly.
“Indeed master, they were quite amusing and made great additions to our collection/forces,” purred Dimmelith as she hugged Grogar from behind and nuzzling him with her cheek as she hung from his neck.
“Maybe you could give us a reward,” said Innandna in a sultry tone as she placed Grogar’s right hand between her legs before dry-humping —not that it was dry either— his fingers.
Varcolac just had an ‘I told you so’ and Grogar just sighed before creating tentacles with his shadow to restrain and pull the three away from him. He just smiled evilly before bringing his wet fingers closer to his mouth and lick them, then he said after cleaning his fingers, “Not bad.”
*moan* “Oh master, don't tease us like that,” said Dimmelith as she struggled to escape the tentacles of shadow holding her.
“Well, I suppose you are going to stay here for a while,” said Grogar as he looked at Varcolac just nodded while ignoring the blushing umbrum and windigo, so Grogar added, “Well then, don’t let me keep you three here, I sure there is a lot to do with setting up a Portal Network, built roads and trails to other cities as well as setting up supply line and the like.”
“Of course, father, we will make sure to take good care of Edh Nonet Hurr,” said Fon before she became a white mist before flying back to the city with Rabi becoming black smoke before following the windigo.
“Well, I leave you to your business then,” said Varcolac before walking toward the city.
“Where were we?” asked Grogar as he looked at the three demonesses.
“You were going to reward us,” purred Innandna.
“No, we’re going to see your mother,” said Grogar in a serious tone.
The three's eyes widen and they gulped nervously.
Author's Note
I based the military on the Imperium of Man before the Horus Heresy, both the Excertus Imperialis Legiones Astartes Stormcast Eternals Balancing Forces Emperor of Light
The inspiration for the names;Magnus the Red the Primarch of the Thousand Sons .
Manda Buthos - Manda comes from the Sanskrit for "knowledge" and Buthos comes from the Greek "depth (of the sea)". The character itself Ahzek Ahriman a Chaos Space Marine and the most powerful Chaos Sorcerer of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion after their Daemon Primarch Magnus the Red himself. The shape of his horns is also based on Ahriman helmet.
Utprith - comes from Ut'Ulls-Hr'Her, also known as The Great Horned Mother and Black Glory of Creation , a Great Old Ones from Cthulhu Mythos; and Prithvi also from Hindi Mythology being the Earth Mother and the "witness of Buddha's enlightenment".
Ulldhu - comes from Ut'Ulls-Hr'Her mentioned above; and Kamaduh from Hindi Mythology a goddess known as "cow of plenty" and provider milk and fierce warrior to protect her master.
Dainrot - comes from Dainn, one of the Four Stags in Norse Mythology; and Herot from Anglo-Saxon Mythology, its the name of the mead hall were the story of Beowulf.
Dunera - comes from Duneyrr, one of the Four Stags in Norse Mythology; and Nara the province in Japan known for the deer that live in that region and deer are considered messenger of the gods in Shinto.
Duratet - comes from Durathrór, one of the Four Stags in Norse Mythology; and Satet the goddess of the hunt Egyptian Mythology who is depicted with deer horns and/or head, also associate with fertility and though to grant wishes for those who sought love.
Dvaliyrnir - comes from Dvalinn, one of the Four Stags in Norse Mythology; and Eikthyrnir the stag that stands upon Valhalla in Norse Mythology.
Cerap’nos - comes from Cernunnos from Celtic Mythology; and Apa'ro, also known as Malorne, from World of Warcraft, a being that takes the form of a white stag.
Edh Nonet Hurr - its the name of the city and its an anagram for "Horned Hunter".
Additionally, the four stag brothers are loosely associated with a season.
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9. Axes and hot springs as well as another detour.
“Why did think that summoning three of the most evil deities worshiped in Tambelon, no, of all Kamagati even was a good idea?!” shouted Cheng not even caring he was addressing to the highest ranking god of his universe and he might be sent to one of the more hellish planes of Kamagati, but regardless of that he won’t let anyone that put his family in danger get away with it.
“I didn't choose them, the Mother Box did and they are not the evilest deities in Kamagati, worshipped in Tambelon maybe,” said Grogar calmly since he understood the anger Cheng was feeling, besides it was impossible to please everyone and it was inevitable that not all his subjects had a high opinion of him but it wasn’t like they could change him anyway. After that, he couldn't help but think to himself, "Besides, their parents are even worse."
“Still, those three are known to rape, kill and eat their own children on a regular basis and they are not much better with their worshippers. How can you allow someone like them to exist?” asked Cheng as he noticed the breathing of his sister and her boyfriend was slowing down to normal levels and their eyes were slowly stopped darting around, signs that their instincts were subsiding.
“As a mage, you should know what means that nature, or any living system really, loathes imbalance and vacuum. If the scales lean too heavily on one side the system will create something to balance the scales,” said Grogar calmly and a look of realization was slowly replacing his overprotectiveness and anger, then he asked, “What do you think would have happened if I only accepted the “morally good” gods as my allies? Besides evil is a matter of perspective.”
Cheng’s mind was slowly calculation what kind of being could fill the void in the universe if Grogar did as Cheng suggested and needless to say that it was not good, the worst part was that he knew his mortal mind couldn't possibly comprehend all the ramifications of such act but what he could comprehend was still terrifying. Even he asked, “Even so how can raping, killing and eating your own children and worshipers be a matter of perspective?”
“They are simply beings guided by their basic impulses despite their intelligence, they revel in the acts of breeding, eating and fighting just in a far more extreme level than mortals,” explained Grogar and by now Jun and Katsu were back to normal but were still reluctant to leave Grogar’s protective aura. Then he continued, “It’s simply their nature and they only respect power, ‘survival of the fittest’ if you will. The only reason they followed me and are conformant to my rules is simply due to the fact that I defeated them utterly and completely.”
“Why?” asked Jun as she looked up with her doe-like eyes —well, she is a doe— and her size, as well as her position, gave the impression of a child to Grogar.
“It’s simple my dear,” said Grogar with a softness in his voice like you would expect in a father or grandfather as he tenderly run his index finger on her small head—to him since she is less than a third of his size— between her ears, it was relaxing to her. Then Grogar continued, “Greed.”
That answer seemed to resonate with Agate since all dragonkind struggled with that fundamental aspect of themselves, however, it was somewhat confusing to the two rabbits since it was in their nature to share what they had with the family, they could be selfish once in a while but most of their lives they always had a big family to share. They knew what the definition of greed was but they couldn’t understand how someone can be guided solely by said emotion and that simple but enlightening answer confused the two further.
Faust understood what Grogar meant since she lived for a long time and she herself had some desires that guided her actions, however, not to the scale and intensity of Grogar’s. Katsu on the other hand, partially understood simply because it was in the nature of a kitsune to be whimsical —it comes from their playful and mischievous nature— and their desire played a big part in that.
“I always remained true to myself and I desired to rule Mundus, so I managed to bring as many gods as I could to my side. While my desire to have Mundus somewhat diminished the desire to rule did not and I’m very possessive with I considered mine, so it was no surprise that I created a system to control and balance my own universe even in my absence and to do that two extremes of an axis where necessary as well as multiple axes,” explained Grogar after he saw the confused look on the two rabbits.
“Axes?” asked Katsu and by the look of realization on Cheng and Rime they knew what Grogar was talking about, Jun also noticed this and silently told him that he could ask later.
“Besides, evil can never truly be eradicated and by the time an immortal managed to eliminate a single evil a new dictator will have appeared somewhere else, a sick child that has never done anyone wrong has died, a someone is raped, and so much more, innumerable times over. Trying to destroy evil is pointless, so I decided to control it and to that end I placed all the rules that exist in this universe, it doesn’t stop the petty disputes among the gods but it makes sure that doesn’t spill over the mortal plane,” Grogar continued his explanation without pause, by now Jun and Katsu recovered, so they reluctantly got up and stood before their Emperor.
“That still doesn’t explain why would you want rule like you do now,” said Jun as she got a satisfactory but incomplete answer in her opinion, she knew that she was pushing it and she had no right to just ask that of her Emperor but he was reasonable and if he didn’t want to answer he wouldn’t answer.
“As I told you before I lived the beginning of my life as a farmer and the feeling of seeing the crops grown as a reward for my hard work was indescribable, even after everything that desire never faded. Now I yearn to see this world grow and prosper even if I don’t tend to it directly, when I said that I consider this world my garden I meant it in every sense of the word,” said Grogar with a somewhat distant look on his face as he tapped the armrest of his golden throne and gave a silent command to Vimana slow down.
“These bring back memories, doesn’t?” asked Echo.
“Indeed it does,” answered Grogar in his mind as he felt Faust wrap her arms around his neck and rest her head on his right shoulder while Agate remained by his left standing guard, her draconian pride not allowing herself to show weakness, even if she just stood before three of the most ruthless and cruel deities in all Kamagati.
Seeing that Grogar with a nostalgic look Katsu decided it would be better to not bother His Majesty and decided to ask about what he meant by “axes” to Rime seeing that Jun and Cheng were busy talking near the edge of Vimana, it was probably better to let the siblings be for now. Katsu turned his attention to Rime while ignoring Faust as she sat on the right armrest of the throne and leaned on Grogar as both looked at the clear blue sky, he noticed that the gryphoness had few drops of sweat on her face and her arms were shaking a bit.
Rime and Katsu sat not far from the rabbit siblings to admire the landscape, he noticed that they just passed over the desert that surrounded the Floating City of Zerzura and the light brown from the sand gave way to fields of grass not too different from the ones that existed outside of Zhenqiu or the fields they passed before climbing the mountain where the Temple of the Lords and Ladies of Change resided. As Vimana headed south in the direction of the Underground City of Agartha the fox looked at the gryphoness and asked, “What did he mean by ‘axes’?”
“I’m curious about that too,” said Jun as she moved to sit on Katsu’s lap and he used his arms and tail to hug her, despite the sun shining over their head it was pleasantly chilly up here, which made the warmth of his fur and heat from his magic all the more pleasant and welcoming for the doe.
“Hey fluff, I thought you wanted a bit of reassurance from you little brother,” said Katsu as Jun just snuggled against the soft for of her fox.
“I prefer to have both of you near me for a while,” said Jun and Katsuo just sighed but didn’t complain since he knew that she could be a bit clingy when something affected emotionally, she was like that when she lost her arm.
“The Axes to which Lord Grogar was referring to is the scales or rules that are used as measures and coordinates to build the cosmological model of the universe as we understand it,” explained Rime before pausing and making sure that Jun and Katsuo understood what she said.
“However, all we know for certain is that Tambelon sits in the intersection of all these axes and it’s through them we can tell the ‘direction’ of other planes of existence,” explained Cheng and his sister and her boyfriend nodded getting the gist of what he was saying.
“As far as we can tell there is at least three axis that helps mages to planeswalk but we theorize that more axes might exist, the ones we know are the Balance/Harmony Axis, the Metaphysical Axis and, for lack of a better name, the Morality Axis,” explained Rime.
“And what those three axes entail?” asked Jun.
“The Balance/Harmony Axis and Metaphysical Axis helps us locate a plane and speculate the nature of its environment with the Balance/Harmony Axis going from Chaos to Order and the Metaphysical Axis going from Hellish/Abyssal to Heavenly,” Cheng answered his sister’s question but paused as his mind went back to the Trio of Damnation and he shivered.
“Also, the last one the Morality Axis, again for lack of better names, goes from Black/Evil/Sinful to White/Good/Virtuous. We use these and the Balance/Harmony Axis to classified the alignment of the gods we know but all mages admit that’s a very superficial way categorize them and the last axis is very subjective so we use the most broadly accepted cultural norms as a standard,” explained Rime as she recalled the many discussions that the researchers in the Mages’ Guild had —and still have— over the years about this subject. Then she added, “The Trio of Damnation more often than not falls into the Chaotic Evil category followed by Chaotic Neutral and Neutral Evil.”
The last bit of information caused all of them to shiver at the memory of meeting the three demon goddesses and Katsuo couldn’t help but ask, “Who would worship such evil beings?”
“Some gryphon communities do,” said Agate as she sat near the group and that caused the fox and the rabbits to look at her in disbelief before they looked at Rime.
“No I don’t worship them nor does the gryphons on Zerzura, that would pretty much anger the patron deities of the city, especially considering that Nakata and Kazuchi oppose Abyzoyllou, Dimmelith and Innandna, plus their forces always battle no matter what plane they are in, the only exceptions are when they meet in a neutral plane where war is forbidden and the only time that worshippers of that trio come to the city is for the tournaments held in the arena. After all, the Twin Gods might hate those three but they would never bar a warrior from honorable combat without a good reason,” explained Rime to the three that did not know about those details.
“Some Minotaur, Centaur, Gargoyle, Goats, Rams, Arimaspi, Nagas, Gnolls and Troggle clans, as well as some packs from the canine folk like the Diamond Dogs, Stan Wulfs, Semargl, Bear dogs, Wolpertinger and Hellhound, Cerberus, even some feline folks like the Maftet, Ronso and Rakasta as well as the Skavens and the Draconians in general like the kirins do so as well,” Agate listed some of the races that worshipped the trio showing that despite the evil nature of the trio their worship was quite widespread. Then she added, “Those three seem to be rather fond of hybrids, however, almost all of them live in isolated parts of the continent because many of their rituals are at odds with what most consider acceptable, even if they aren’t exactly forbidden.”
After that there was silence, that information was proof that Tambelon was a far more diverse and vast world they thought and that wasn’t much of a surprise considering that Katsu and Jun spend most of their lives in a small town but it surprised even Cheng who travelled a lot, granted he spent most of his time in well-known cities and never ventured to the more isolated parts of the continent nor into other planes of existence.
Their introspection was interrupted when they felt Vimana stop and when they looked at the landscape below they saw a city but it wasn’t a big fortress city that they knew that served as an entrance to Agartha, much like the one below Zerzura, but a simple yet beautiful city in the middle of forest not far from another chain of mountains. However the most noticeable characteristic of this city was the small lakes both in and out of the city, it took a while, but eventually, they noticed the steam coming out of the lakes and realized that they were hot springs.
“I thought we would be going directly to Agartha, why are we stopping?” asked Agate in confusion.
“After what happened I thought it would be best to have time to recover, plus some of the cities surrounding Agartha are famous for their hot springs since this part of the continent have a great deal of volcanic activity,” said Grogar as he stood behind the group with Faust by his side as Vimana landed near the city. Then he walked to the edge of the ship without pause and the moment his hooves went over the edge a ramp of light appeared allowing the Emperor to climb down, then he looked at the group and asked, “Shall we?”
It didn’t take much to convince the group and as soon as all of them stepped out of Vimana the golden vessel disappeared in a ripple of golden light. With his treasure back into his vault Grogar led the group into the town and much like before their arrival was noticed by many people, however, unlike before they didn’t pay much attention to them, clearly they were used to VIP visitors, that worked for the group since it meant that they could walk without being surrounded by curious townsfolk.
The city itself had an Asian ascetic to it but Grogar could see aspects that reminded him of other cultures from Earth ranging from Indian, Chinese, Korean and Japanese while its inhabitants showed a variety of species, probably a result of a great flux of visitors for a long time since the area around Agartha —on the surface— was teeming with hot springs and was very famous throughout the whole continent as tourist spots. Agate was the one that recommended a place for them to stay since she not only have been here before but she also had some friends in this town.
The female kirin led the group to a hotel and upon closer inspection, they noticed that it was more like a closed neighborhood or a condominium and once inside the lobby they were greeted by the receptionist. The lobby itself was like that of a small hotel, it had just a coffee table with two couches facing each other on the right side and the receptionist desk to the left as well as a few cabinets on the wall behind the receptionist.
“Hello Arianne,” said Agate as she approached the receptionist.
“Oh my,” said the receptionist.
“Agate,” said a second voice coming from the receptionist and as she got up to hug the qilin it became evident why since she was Orthus.
The receptionist appeared to be an anthropomorphic German Shepherd a few inches taller than Agate with two heads, most of her faces and muzzles were covered by tan colored fur while the top and back of her heads were covered by black fur and her black noses were exposed. By the blend of color around her necks it was possible to infer that her back was mostly covered by black fur but that was hidden by the sleeveless jacket she wore, which allowed her to expose her arms covered with tan colored fur, it was difficult to see but she was also wearing long pants that covered her legs and only left her paws/feet exposed.
“Hello my friend, it has been a while,” said Agate.
“Please, tell us you are going to stay for more than a day,” said Arianne’s right head.
“Yeah, we kind miss your visits,” said Arianne’s left head before releasing the qilin from the hug and sitting back on her chair. Then she asked, “How long will you be staying?”
“Before I answer that I have to say that I'm here on an escorting mission, so it’s up to my client,” said Agate.
“I see,” said Arianne’s left head as her light brown eyes looked down and her ears folded back a little in disappointment.
“So, where is this client of yours?” asked Arianne’s right head with a more optimistic tone.
Agate just stepped aside and let her friend see the rest of the group that came with her and the moment she saw who was in the group her eyes widen before hastily getting up and bowing while both of her heads said in surprise, “Your Majesty!”
“Greetings, me and my escorts came here to rest for a while before resuming our journey,” said Grogar.
“O- of course,” both of Arianne’s heads stuttered before opening the log and offering it to Grogar, Emperor of not he was still a client. Then she asked in a professional tone, “Would you like a big house for the whole group or multiple smaller ones?”
“I think multiple smaller ones are better, let Jun spend some time with Katsu and Cheng,” committed Faust and the group didn’t protest.
“Would you prefer the common cabin or a VIP one?” asked Arianne’s right head as her right was looking at something behind the counter, probably a list of available cabins.
“And what’s the difference between the common one and the VIP one?” asked Grogar.
“Well, the VIP ones are bigger and have their own private hot springs as well as additional services,” Arianne’s right head explained. Then her left head continued, “The smaller ones are normally for couples on vacations and there are some cabins with shared hot springs for groups of friends.”
“We will take three cabins with a shared hot spring,” said Grogar.
“There is only one shared hot spring available and its shared by four cabins, one of which is occupied at the moment, so you have to share the hot spring with the guests already there,” said Arianne’s left head before bowing, then her right head said, “We are sorry for the inconvenience.”
“I don’t mind,” said Grogar as he signed the book before allowing the rest of the group to sign it as well. Then he said, “Besides, meeting new people is the fun part of traveling.”
Arianne collected the book before seeing the signatures, then she nodded before closing the book. Then she went to one of the cabinets behind her, then she opened one to reveal that it contained many keys, each one of them with a number and the logo of the hotel, on a small hook each. She picked three keys before giving them to Grogar.
“In the cabins, you will find a small booklet with all the services available and if you have any question just use the intercom,” said Arianne’s right head and Grogar. Then her left head added, “Since it’s almost time for lunch we can send a servant to either cook or deliver a meal to your cabins,”
“That won’t be necessary,” said Rime as she picked one of the three keys while Cheng picked another.
“Then we can either recommend a restaurant in town or we can send a servant to do grocery shopping for you if you prefer cooking your own meals,” said Arianne’s left head and Faust just nodded before using her magic to materialize a small list.
“We shall deliver it just before noon,” said Arianne’s right head after reading the shopping list, then her left head said as she gestured for the door that was on the back of the lobby just beside her desk, “This way please.”
The group followed the female Orthus through the door, which led to a vast grassland that had many small roads of stone that lead to different medieval-looking houses in the classic wattle and daub style with the white panels separated by dark beams of wood and roofs made of clay tiles. Grogar supposed that the simpler housing was to help the guests to relax and be away from the stress of the big cities, that was after all the purpose of vacation in the first place.
“Ayo!” said shouted Arianne’s right head as she placed both of her hands near her muzzle and in the distance near the two stores tall barracks that were built in the same style as the houses but were distinguished by being in a long rectangular shape. Soon the group was approached by a guard that had the appearance of a 7ft 10in tall anthro hyena with broad shoulders, slightly hunched posture, a sandy colored fur and brown spots as well as a short brown mane that was made into small braids; the guard was wearing a brown and green sleeveless gambeson while the arms and legs were covered by light armor made of metal that left the fingers and toes exposed to use the claws; on the waist attached to the belt was a short sword on the left side and a pistol on the right.
“You called ma’am?” asked Ayo.
“Yes, be a dear and accompany our VIP guests to their lodging,” requested Arianne’s right head and Ayo nodded, then her left head faced Agate and said, “I have to go back, I may visit you later after my shift is done.”
“Thanks, Aria,” said Agate before hugging Arianne and lightly brush her cheek against the right head, then she turned to the left one and did the same and said, “You too Anne.”
Arianne went back to the lobby and the group followed the Gnoll guard to the VIP area. On their way, Jun and Katsu sent a confused look to Agate.
“What?” asked Agate as she felt the stare of the rabbit and the fox.
“I’m a little confused,” said Katsu in a puzzled tone, however, it was possible to notice a bit of apprehension in his voice, clearly he was still affected by the earlier events.
“About?” asked Agate.
“The receptionist, you said her name Arianne,” said Katsu and Agate nodded, then he asked, “Why did you refer to her as Aria and Anne?”
“Oh,” said Agate before giggling for a bit, which earned a glare from the one-tailed kitsune. Then she said, “Sorry, it's just that sometimes I forget that you are from a small town. Its a quirk of ‘Conjoined Species’ or 'Multi-headed Species', they normally are given a name that can be broken into parts and each part is associated with a head, normally in the opposite direction you read. In Common it's from left to right, so the right head gets the first part of the given name and the left gets the second part, it works like this because of the parents that name their children.”
“Doesn’t that complicate things?” asked Jun.
“Not really, in their culture, they consider themselves both to be individuals and parts of the same being at the same time, so you use their full given name to refer to the person and the parts to refer to each head. That’s why you will rarely find a multiheaded being with a name with fewer syllables then the number of heads,” interjected Cheng and his sister just made an “ooh” sound in understanding before nodding. Both of them noticed that they passed by a small metal fence that separated the VIP area from the rest.
The houses were slightly bigger and there was more space between them, but they still kept the same aesthetic as the ones they saw before, at least on the outside since they didn’t see the inside yet.
“Here,” said Ayo as the group arrived, the small road made a T as it connected to a circle that led to the four one story tall houses, the small lake in their shared “backyard” and inside the circle of stone being the hot spring. Then Ayo added, “The house on the left is the one that is already occupied, do you need anything else?”
“No, that will be all,” said Grogar as he started to walk to the right after checking the number on his key.
“Thank you sir Ayo,” said Katsu and a look of annoyance was crossed Ayo's face for a brief moment before disappearing and being replaced a resigned look.
“I’m sorry miss, he doesn’t know,” said Rime, which caused Ayo, Jun and Katsuo’s eye to widen in surprise, although for different reasons.
“Don’t worry ma’am, I’m used to it at this point,” said Ayo in a clearly masculine voice before leaving.
“That was a girl?” asked Jun in disbelief and Cheng just nodded.
“How?” asked Katsu just as surprised as his girlfriend.
“Gnolls and Charrs have no sexual dimorphism,” answered Cheng simply.
“It means that boys and girls look the same,” said Jun when she saw the confused look on her boyfriend’s face.
“How do they tell the difference then?” asked Katsu.
“Smell, body language and sometimes clothes,” answered Rime with a shrug.
The house directly to the right was taken by Grogar and Faust, the one at the right of that house was taken by Cheng, Katsu and Jun while the one opposite to the one occupied by Grogar and Faust was taken by Rime and Agate. The inside was just a space that acted as a living room and kitchen with the stove on the back, a room on the left with a single bed and a bathroom beside the room while on the right was a laundry room and another bathroom.
After settling on their temporary house Grogar just sat on an armchair and took out a book from his vault of treasures to read, his vault contained "all the treasures of the Earth" and "the very essence of human ingenuity", essentially all their achievements as a civilization from the past as well as the future and more, however, since it was possessed by Grogar the first and the only ruler of Tambelon that concept also extended to the Tambelonian civilization as a whole. But that ability also came with the grim knowledge of the inevitable end, it might happen in countless millennia from now but it will happen, after all, nothing lasts forever.
About an hour later there was a knock on the door and Faust wearing only a towel that barely covered her torso, as well as another wrapped around her mane, opened it to reveal a pony stallion with a green uniform holding a few shopping bags. He handed the bags to Faust despite his nervousness before bowing without saying a word and left, but as he left it was possible to see a tattoo on the back of his neck with a crest done with magical ink, that was an indication he was a slave, probably owned by the owner of the hotel.
“Master, I just finished my bath and I’m going to make our lunch, may I suggest you take a bath as well,” said Faust as she placed the bags in the kitchen.
“A bath would be nice,” said Grogar to himself before his book disappeared from his hand in a ripple of golden light, then he got up and went to the bathroom.
A few minutes later Grogar came out of the bathroom only wearing his pants, which showed his muscular physique with his fur a little fluffier than normal after being dried. The first thing he noticed was the smell of food and when he looked at the kitchen he was greeted by the image of Faust wearing only a pink apron as she was finished cooking their lunch.
“Now you are just tempting me,” said Grogar as approached the alicorn from behind, his head resting on her left shoulder, of course being careful with his horns, as he hugged her from behind and took in the scent of the hot meal as well as the sweet smell of her silken red mane and cream-colored fur. The mare just leaned on the chest of her master and closed her eyes as she basked in his presence.
“Would you have me any other way?” asked Faust as she looked opened her eyes and looked into the ruby-like orbs that were her master’s eyes.
The alicorn’s answer came when her master’s lips touched hers.
Author's Note
Inspirations for the names:
Nakata and Kazuchi came from Takemikazuchi and Takeminakata, both were warrior gods from Japanese Mythology.
Arianne is a name I picked that could be divided into two smaller names, its a French variation of the Greek name Ariadne which means "most holy" and also the name of King Minos' daughter.
Ayo means "joy" in Yoruba.
About the new races mentioned in this chapters:
Naga - race of humanoid being/deities from Hindu Mythology that can switch between a human form, a snake form and anything in-between. In most depiction, they have a humanoid torso and the lower half of a snake, which is more akin to some depictions of the Gorgons and Lamia, however, I will be using a depiction similar to how they look in World of Warcraft but with less human —or elven in this case— features, kinda like the Vipers from XCOM.
Gnoll - a fictional race of humanoid hyenas that appear in some works of fiction that first appeared in D&D, their appearance fluctuates between Type 3 and Type 4 Anthro Types with a more feral and hunched look. (ref. in ANs from chap. 2 and chap. 4 )
Stan Wulf - is to the Diamond Dog what wolves are to dogs, the name comes from the Old English words for "Stone" and "Wolves".
Semargl - mythological creature from East Slavic Mythology that it's depicted as a winged canine, its a pretty awesome creature said to chain the stars to keep them in place and avoid the end of the world. An alternative name for them is Aralez a similar creature but from Armenian Mythology, I actually got plans for this small fact.
Bear dog - The name of an extinct family of big and bear-like canidaes that existed on earth from 46.2 to 1.8 million years ago, the scientific name for this family is Amphicyonidae .
Wolpertinger - smallish chimera-like beings with the body, and sometimes head, of a mammal and sometimes the head and wings of a bird, the only consistent features of their kind are fangs and horn —more often than not antlers. They are from Germanic folklore.
Hellhound - a supernatural dog in folklore with a wide variety of ominous or hellish supernatural powers that occur in many mythologies around the world in one form or another.
Skaven - a race of anthropomorphic rats from Warhammer Fantasy, I'm using the name because it's the only race of rat people with a specific name, most fictions just call them ratfolk. Depending on the edition and artists they are anything between Type 2 to Type 4 Anthro Types with a more feral and hunched look. (ref. in ANs from chap. 2 and chap. 4 )
Maftet - bronze-skinned humans from the waist up and lion from the waist down from Pathfinder said to descend from sphinxes, however, in my story they anthropomorphic winged felines. It's also the name of an Egyptian Goddess associated with justice, law and protection who happens to also be associated with cats as well.
Ronso - race of muscular, anthropomorphic horned feline humanoids with from the world of Spira in Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2.
Rakasta - anthropomorphic feline people in D&D with an Asian like culture.
Charr - a fictional race of humanoid felines that appear in Guild Wars, they are basically a more advanced feline version of the Gnolls but with extra ears and horns, I'm just using the general idea and name with some changes.
Yes, I'm using the alignment system from D&D but with an added layer of complexity, and using different Axes you could create different cosmological models, this was also inspired by D&D with three different models. So depending on which set of Axes you use the "position" of the many dimensions that exist in Kamagati change, but they also convey different information. If you are curious I designed a model with 8 Axes in combinations of two or three.
I did some thinking and looking back, I'm not happy how this story turned out. I focused too much on Worldbuilding and this story devolved into a road trip, so I'm cancelling this story. I'm sorry to those that wanted to see it continue but I just can't continue this one in particular, plus work and life in the real world getting in the way.
). Thanks for your time and understanding. 