Brother

Horrified though you are by the blood that defines your path through the stars, a trail that followed you out of the Diamond Sea, it is impossible to lay down your arms in a world so desperate for heroes. There are too many worthy causes that cry out for your blade, and moreover, you know no other life. You wield your war scythe because your hands know no other tools, and you merely hope that the cause makes enough of a difference.

Still, a sickly film of doubt clings to your hands. It matters not whose life you take, it's fuel for the fire all the same—whether a nobleman's or a peasant's, the smell of blood surges the fire in your veins and provokes a primal hunger. You struggle to disentangle a lust for purpose from a lust for blood, so entwined that they have become indistinguishable. Is this truly repentance? Can absolution for murder really be found in yet more blood? Or are you the same thing you've always been, using the blood of the unrighteous as camouflage to live among the righteous?

---

A young man approaches you just outside of some modest backwater village, as you were passing through. Glimpsing the weapon hanging from your back and the trappings that you wear, he surmises that you are a mighty warrior. Pale, haggard and skinny, he looks worn upon by the Sunless Winter, bedraggled black hair covering much of his face and a long beard spilling out from beneath.

"Sir, if I may... I would turn back, were I you," he says. You look down at him, tilting your head.

"Speak, then. Why?" you ask, your voice more commanding than perhaps you intend, given the hesitation he then displays.

"I... ah. You look uh, n-nonhuman, sir. And uh, the folks up ahead, they don't much like those..." he says, his voice quelling to a hush. "They're Merekax folks, sir."

Your eyes narrow, and you look ahead to the town. In the distance, you see rather advanced walls for such a small village—full wooden ramparts with turrets and all, as though the town were a fort. You're beginning to understand. You turn your gaze back upon him skeptically.

"And you are not among them?" you say, though your voice grows gentler. If indeed he isn't, then he surely has enough problems living here without being intimidated by an armed fallen God. He glances back over his shoulder before nodding.

"I ain't like that, sir... m-most of the folks there weren't, 'till the Merekax folks took over just a couple months ago. They started sending soldiers in from a nearby town, and just... took the place over. Killed or ran out most of the folks they didn't like, and now it's just me n' a few other families who ain't with Merekax..." He sounds like he's on the verge of tears, and you're not uncertain why. Merekax takes by force and by force alone what he believes to be his.

"...Perhaps I will have some words with them, then. I will convince them to see reason." You reach for your back, drawing the war scythe off of it, much to the shock of the man who takes a few steps back.

"Uh—'re you sure about that, sir..? It's a lotta' soldiers, and—" he begins, only to be cut off.

"My brother is here, and I would like to have a word with him. Nothing will stop me." You give him a firm and confident nod. "Stay here, and do not go back into town until I return. Do you understand?" you command, and he agrees.

"I'll uh—just go find a place t'sit and enjoy nature, yeah? Good luck..." he says, faint doubt in his voice, as he starts to move off the path. "A-and er, you never saw me..." With that, he disappears into the trees.

---

As night begins to fall, the stars vanish under a blanket of smoke as the the clamor of war overtakes the village. The gates smashed open, blood slicks cobble streets littered with plate-armored bodies, and a blaze streaks across several homes, an unmistakable warpath carved directly into the heart of the village. People anxiously peer from their windows, watching for any sign of the culprit if they should return.

The local church to Fanekh had been repurposed into one of Merekax, complete with significant renovations—soldier barracks, more defensible walls, stables for horses, it had essentially become its own fortress. Typical of Merekax, for whom worship and warfare were often one and the same—to secure humanity's destiny through bloodshed and conquest is the highest form of sacrifice he would accept, and very nearly the only kind. It is here to which the trail leads.

You cleave through the chains binding the doors with your war scythe and kick them wide, prepared for another battle... only for something far worse to greet you.

The room is bathed in an intense red light, beaming from within the heart of the statue of Merekax at the altar. Around you, bloodless bodies litter the floor, seared to the bone, and what would be a truly unbearable heat for anyone else fills the room. You can feel his presence, overwhelming as it bulges out of the firmament and into this reality. You sneer, stepping forward into the cast of his light, feeling his hatred trying to burn you to dust.

"Brother, is this what you have become? Conquering small towns in the middle of nowhere?" you demand, stomping forward. You have to push past his presence to be able to move, as if you're wading through sludge.

"I SHOULD ASK YOU THE SAME, VERMIN," his voice rings throughout the room, otherworldly and piercing. You wince, drawing a deep breath through your teeth, still trudging even as his presence weighs only more and more on you. "DO YOU SEE? THIS IS WHAT BECOMES OF THE UNWORTHY. THEY FAILED ME, THEY FAILED HUMANITY, AND THEY PAID THE PRICE. JUST AS YOU HAVE, AND YOU WILL."

"You call me... a failure...? Here you are... cast from your throne... reduced to conquering mere hamlets..." you snarl in return, and instantly a wave of heat crashes against you, setting pews and parts of the altar aflame beneath the statue. You push through.

"MERE SMALL STEPS. YOU AS ANYONE SHOULD KNOW THAT CONQUEST TAKES TIME, AND PATIENCE. I AM PATIENT, BROTHER. INFINITELY SO. I KNOW THAT HUMANITY'S FUTURE IS ASSURED, AND WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT, DOMINION WILL BE MINE," Merekax hisses, another pulse of force and heat nearly dragging you off your feet. As you get ever closer, they only grow more frequent.

"You... are a worm... you always have been, brother, even before our ascension... you are beyond hope, beyond reason... beyond mercy..." With each step, you can feel Merekax's presence shift, from disdain to outright fury as the flames rise. The statue begins to crack under the heat, a red glow emanating from each crack... threatening to bring Merekax into this world.

"YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME. WHICH ONE OF US IS STILL A GOD, BROTHER? YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN OUR DESTINY. OUR PURPOSE. THIS IS MERELY A SETBACK. HUMANITY'S RIGHTFUL PLACE WILL BE EARNED THROUGH ADVERSITY AND STRUGGLE. IT IS THESE THINGS THAT MAKE US STRONG. I WILL RESURGE. THIS WORLD WILL BE OURS. IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME." Each word is like a drill into your skull, and the waves of force radiating from the statue now feel like they might just tear you apart. The flames grow, creeping across the floor and scaling the walls, until soon you and the statue are all that is left in a sea of fire.

"Some destiny this is... slaughtering innocent people, clinging to delusions of superiority... the night will fall upon you just as it did me, Merekax, and when it does, I will find you, and I. WILL. KILL. YOU." Finally close enough, you reach up and pull your mask up, taking a deep breath of the smoke... and howling, a ray of flame spewing into the heart of the statue and melting through the glowing gem within. It pierces straight through, spraying molten stone and all at once banishing Merekax from the town.

His presence vanishes, unnatural heat replaced by the almost comforting warmth of the flame beneath your feet. You finally stop, looking back at the church, at the scattered bodies, armor melting upon them.

---

You sit outside of the town, in a small clearing, resting. You look down at your war scythe as it rests in the grass, the bright moonlight catching along its dripping edge. You lift it, looking at your war mask in its gleam.

You tilt it away.