After the great war between the Old Gods and the Merged few were left of the Old Gods. Those who were left did their best to stay out of the way of the merged.

It was now that something terrible happened. The humans had taken their science too far, they had been experimenting with diseases and had created one that had never been seen before not even by the gods. The Humans created a disease that would kill the host, then raise the bodies again as zombies and attack others. It was now that the gods would have to make an important decision. Follow what the Old Gods did, and not interfere and hope that it would work itself out. This option would risk the human race becoming extinct. The second option was to interfere and find a way to stop such a terrible thing from progressing.

The disease had started to spread within South Africa, it was spreading slowly but gaining pace. A decision would have to be made soon, the humans may not die from this, but they would lose faith in the gods if nothing was done.

Cia after hearing the prayers from her followers on earth made a portal to mount olympus where many of the merged gods had made their home. "There is a problem!" Cia said panting a bit as she reached the meeting room. "The Humans have made a grave mistake, they created a disease horrible disease and it has spread. The humans are attack each other like animals." Cia said opening a portal next to her that showed humans fighting each other. One of the humans had rotting skin and red glowing eyes.

"Is there any difference?!" David quipped for humor's sake. "Well, anyway, I've noticed. I am well versed in Human medicine, and although there are many ways they could have done this, I don't know which way they have. It seems to be superior to anything even concocted by Sylicon Valley. I wonder what methods and chemicals are used?" He asked out loud. "Well anyway yes, this threat is horrifying to us. I say us. . . because I live among Humans. Why I haven't been able to just cure it magically is beyond my mind for now. I don't understand. I think something weird is going on here. We are gods, they are mortal, why can I not cure this plague?"

"Maybe the reason is that you lack the knowledge and understanding required, David" spoke Claire.

Claire and Yuki, the daughters of one of the Muses, stood in their spot. While Yuki seemed normal, Claire showed a very much visible expression of annoyance on her face. She didn't like coming to these things, as she always felt as if her mom was going to show up at any second. Another reason was that the others usually had this air about themselves that just didn't sit right with her. That, and most of the others were well-known for their unpredictability and fighting capabilities. Still, with the ways things were at the moment, even she had to admit that this was something she had to be present for.

This other deity, however, did not start this off that well. For Claire, at least. Though he lived among humans like she and her sister had, he still assumed that his greater status would provide an instant-fix for the problem. Claire felt that this was a foolish thought, as not everything mortals do was influenced by them or their parents. Neither were they, as deities, omnipotent or omniscient. Thinking that magic would just do whatever and win out was a stupid idea.

"Despite all your time living among humans, you haven't done ANY research on this? It's not as if you made the disease yourself. It's foreign to you, your magic reflects yourself, and if you don't understand the disease, your magic sure as hell isn't going to of anything."

"Please, sister, calm yourself" requested Yuki gently. "I know being here makes you uncomfortable, but there's no need to berate anyone."

"You may supposedly know more about magic than I, but my talent and knowledge in the making of potions is definitely of higher value. I mean no disrespect, but I would ask that you think the same of me." David responded. "I love the art of magic. . . my Mother, Ceridwen, and my Father, Cernunnos are both among the greatest deities of magic there are. I don't understand why you are so quick to dismiss, in disrespect, not just practicality, all of my power. This isn't about ego, it's about salvation of the entire Human's population. Mark my words, the Humans will destroy themselves, unless we do something".

Occus wrinkled his nose in disgust, this explained what happened to the Witch Doctors. Ox's gifts to the people of this area had turned their magic upon a strange new threat, unfortunately whatever they tried had failed. The village was utterly destroyed, and everyone within was either strewn across the dirt as smears of blood and organs, or long gone. The deaths of his subjects had been the sign that alerted him that something had gone wrong here, but he had been busy with Boreas in Wickedeisos, formerly known as Hyperborea until Occus had invaded it and claimed the realm as his own.

All around him was the wreckage of a village founded by Witch Doctors whose powers had come from Occus. Several signs magic had been used to defend this place was everywhere. A ritual circle showed the remains at the attempts of a cure, and the carvings on destroyed doors were protection wards. Several collapsed huts were on fire where the Witches had turned tot eh elements to defend their lives, but it seemed it was all for naught. Smoke rose into the sky and devastation was everywhere to be found.

"Necromantic energies are heavy here. I wonder; did they mean to do this?" The Heart muttered.

"Who did this?" He asked of the creation, but for all that the thing spoke it was mindless. It commented and observed, but it did not converse. It would not answer his question.

Scowling Ox turned to leave when he felt a tremble in his connection with his bound souls. He vanished into into a portal of swirling violet darkness, stepping out on the other side in a larger, more modern city. The Wicca Priests of the Orange River lived here, or so they used to, now the city was being swarmed by a horde of the unliving. The hostile, strange energies emitting from them stopped him from even trying to interfere. He left the Priests to die and made a portal to Olympus, currently the unofficial headquarters of the Merged.

"This is where they fell..." The Heart whispered. Ox ignored the chatty thing.

He saw some of his kin were already gathered in the main hall, in the room of the Olympian Thrones which were no longer occupied. A portal was opened, revealing some of the unliving. They had taken notice then. Good, he certainly hadn't wanted to be the only one concerned. He had a good many subjects in the mortal realm and had no desire to see them perish, least of all to a strange supernatural creature. It always bothered him when beings in his sphere did not belong to his domain.

...I don't understand. I think something weird is going on here. We are gods, they are mortal, why can I not cure this plague?"

He had just caught the end of the immortal's words, asking questions that mirrored his own. It was fair to say he did not recognize any of those around him, they definitely needed a way to better gather or communicate with everyone. If he hadn't have found the situation himself it was unlikely any would venture into his realm to tell him of the developments.

He listened as a grumpy girl scolded the speaker. She wasn't wrong, but at the same time... "I have seen these creatures myself, they're not normal creations of any necromancer, their essence is unusual and they seem to resist the curses of my people. My own skill in Necromancy would not be able to disassemble them. Our answer lies not in a magical cure." Not that I'd have time to find one anyway. Ox would be commanding his people to evacuate the lower continent, if it got any worse he'd pull them all back to Wickedeisos.

"If we should do anything at all." A woman spoke up, she wore a crown of carved rubies, "So a few humans catch a plague, a country might fall to anarchy. We have duties elsewhere, and the mortals will have lived and learned from the catastrophe as they always do."

The woman had a point, not many had servants or active worshipers in the mortal realm, much less any in that area. Occus was unique in the dispersion of his subjects and believers. Olympus was unlikely to do much of anything in response, much less stop a lowly plague doomed to burn itself out.

"It isn't likely to be the end of mortals." A man clad in a skimpy ivy disagreed, his long ears twitching. "They've survived much worse than this before."

"Oh yeah, God forbid..." Claire paused a moment. She had grown so used to using that phrase around humans that it had slipped out when she was among gods. It was an interesting phrase some used, though when she uses it, it's always just empty words.

"Look, dude. I'm not saying that your power sucks, I'm just telling you to think a bit more before assuming that you can overcome this with magic. Besides, my specialty's the Dusk and Music, not magic."

Yet another reason why she hated coming to these things. Claire hated talking to them. They're always talking about an important subject, so she can't joke around, and when she tries to make suggestions on how to go about something, they always counter it in a way that makes it seem as if she was deliberately trying to be offensive. The deity she was talking to didn't help matters by stating who his parents were. The subject wasn't about them, it was about what to do with the mortals. Claire would talk about what information they have on the disease in order to properly combat it, rather than state what has been attempted and failed thus far.

Yuki saw the the annoyance grow in her half-sister, and spoke before Claire said anything else.

"What Claire is trying to say is that she and I both want to help the mortals, but we must be careful with how we go about it. This disease is of their own creation, not any of ours. If we handle this incorrectly, we may end up either not doing anything at all, or even helping the disease rather than stopping it."

Cia looked around nervously as the other gods argued. She wanted to help the humans with all her will but she didn't like getting the middle of arguments like this. And then the one who most of the Gods had a distaste for came into the room. Cythlla as always had to make an interesting entrance. She entered the room in a bit of violent manner as a group of tentacles appeared then receded back into the floor revealing Cythlla with a green glow emiting from the ground during the whole thing.

"I don't think we should help the humans. They can figure this out for themselves. They made this mess afterall, they should be the ones to clean it up." Cythlla said to the other gods after her entrance had gotten the attention of everyone. "So don't even bother with that cure of yours, your just wasteing your own time and resources. I say leave them." Cythlla said repeating her idea of leaving the humans alone.

Some of the other merged gods in the room had agreed with her. If the others really wanted to help the humans they would need to do something about convincing those set in the old ways. And Cythlla was certianly not helping. Cia was just too shy at this point to say anything, all she was there for was to keep a portal open showing the pictures of these creatures, most would call them zombies, and they were biological. Magic never mixed with science, in fact Magic could do nothing against science.

Reese remained silent through the beginning of the argument that arose when Cia entered. He just sat there with a blank stare wondering what in the hell is a war god doing at a meeting that isn't even about war. His eyes wounded the room hoping to speed up time so he can just leave. Though it wouldn't seem like it at a first glance, Reese was listening to the conversation that had the gods in a back to back debate. There was honestly nothing else for the bored god to do. Then as if another god answer his non prayer to end his boredom the spawn of Cthulhu made one of her flashy entrances.

She instantly caught Reese's attention. Leaving the humans to fend for them self's was a perfect decision. That simple statement put Reese into the debate about what to do with the outbreak on Earth Realm. "I agree with Cthulhu spawn over there. The humans always put themselves in stupid predicaments and beg for our help when they dug a whole to deep for them selves to climb out of. I say we let them get a taste of their medicine for a good 10 years and then we help them." Reese wasn't a fan of mortals. Though he loved a good war and mortals constantly start them. But its beings like mortals that take control of the weak and give into the wrong. Such weakness ticked Reese off and loosened his hope for humanities future.

Jera, paying begrudging attention to Cythlla's entrance, wanted to pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration, but resisted the urge. All around her was noise and it was grating on her nerves, but she did her best to maintain her composure. She was no friend to the Merged, that much was obvious, as the lot of them were killing or subjugating their parents out of some sort of misplaced teen angst. It never ceased to amaze her how much more civil mortal man could be when dealing with their elders.
She waited for a pause in the conversation. There hadn't been much worth paying attention to, mostly the others worrying about the end times and reassuring each other, debating on whether they should intervene. She had no doubt that the irony of the situation was lost on them, where they were bickering like the gods they had slain. A self-fulfilling prophecy, she supposed.

"The mortals will be fine." She interjected, "They've been writing literature based around this scenario for centuries. Even the American CDC has plans in place to handle these situations!" Jera gestured over to David, "You've been around mortal man for at least two decades now, even you should know their most popular television series has this situation as a premise!"

"And you," She nodded begrudgingly to Ox, "This nonsense is right up your alley. Vampires? The undead? You're a necromancer and you're telling me you have no idea how to combat the risen dead?" She shook her head, "No matter what this is, this should be simple enough for any of us to handle. The obvious weakness is the brain or the spinal column."

Jera leant against a wall, "Now, let's think about what this could be for a moment; It's either the result of mortals messing around with rabies or the lyssavirus or they've somehow managed to circumvent death without the aid of magic. Now, raise your hands if you really think mortals could have managed that?!" She asked, looking around incredulously.

@PerseusArchean@ActRaiserTheReturned

Landon normally wasn't in attendance at meetings like these as the topic never interested him. His real goal in attending was to find his mother and find out why she cursed him. Again she wasn't here. Maybe he could get more training from Selene after this ordeal. The dark arts of the moon were a lot more difficult to learn than controling ice and weather. He listened in on the conversation to pass the time until it's end.

A zombie outbreak. Sounds like some necro crap, but I guess even the other necro's are stumped at this. If this is a virus they should just wipe out the zombies before it spreads. Although I guess they don't know what's going on. I wonder if this could have been intentional? They can't be serious about leaving them for ten years. Guess they are. Out of his normal character Landon chimed in at this meeting. "You do realize that if this is contagious, exponential growth could wipe humanity in a few years if they can't control it themselves. Unless you're trying to start a new world with a few survivors after an apocalypse. Then all you'll need is some sabotage. But then again, this'll happen much faster than ten years."

Deleted

Cythlla gave a sigh as she continued to watch the others argue. It seemed that most of the room wanted to leave the human's to themselves. Cia on the other hand was very worried about such a thing. "I-I think that maybe we should help the humans. If we don't then we may end up with the humans believing in us even less. I know that it's their own problem, but if we show intervention and that we are only here to help the humans. The human's will believe in us more." Cia said though a bit nervously as always.

Cythlla spit at the ground at this idea. "If we do that then the human's are going to start relying on us more and more. The whole reason we started letting the humans do as they please was to help them advance as a race. If we intervene now the mortals will never learn. Instead they will make more messes like this and expect us to fix it. I say we let the humans fix their own problems." Cythlla said, with that she rose her hand to the idea of leaving the humans be.

Jera barked a laugh at Cia's response before she could control herself.

"Mortals don't believe in us! And if they did, it would be in the same way they believe in their friends or loved ones!" she waved around the room, "When was the last time anyone here heard of the mortals teaching about any of us in their schools? I mean, really? Has anyone heard of Claire, Goddess of Dubstep? Or Yuki, the Godddess of Popping and Locking? How about Jera or Reese, Gods of War?"

She nodded towards Ox and smirked, "Or Occus, Patron God of the Young Adult section of Barnes and Noble? Face it, if the only reason we're doing this is for worshipers, I say give up now! The mortal world has never believed less in gods than they do today! They know more about our parents than they do us!"

Jera took a breath to compose herself. Her cynicism tended to show when she became aggravated and being stuck in a room full of merged wasn't helping her mood. She gave in and pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"Look, whether you all want to help the mortals or not doesn't matter to me. I'll be going down there no matter what. The way I see it, any fight's a good fight and these undead will probably take a little more effort than the average mortal. And if this nonsense really does get out of control, someone has to make some effort to fight off Armageddon." She said, bitterly. The fact that the old gods had been subdued by the Merged still left a foul taste in her mouth and, truth be told, she had her own personal interests to protect in the mortal world, but no one there needed to know that.

@PerseusArchean@OtomostheCrazy@Slendy@Cuccoruler

Anatole sighed. "We don't need them. They don't need us. We want them to be sure, but there are many ways to grow in power, worship is only one. Why not just save them for the sake of our benevolence?" He stated. "That's the problem with us gods since the days of our grand parents, let alone our parents. We need to prevent them from being wiped off the face of the Earth for the same reason that they need to know we exist, because both are the right things to do. To be good neighbors, rulers and to provide information that people have the right to know".

Humanity was slow to believe in the threat, it was simply too fantastical to grasp at first, but then as more and more live footage of swarms in South Africa became apparent, the world seemed to recoil and panic in shock. Many countries closed their borders within the first week, enforcing strict rules about who could and could not come into their countries. Other countries' reactions were not so extreme, but their actions were still telling of their governments' concerns.

Much of the foreign overseas troops found in places like the Middle East were being redeployed to South Africa, particularly into defensible positions and around major population centers. The former British territories in particular seemed to ban together to send aid to the nation. Even countries such as China, Russia, and Japan began entering discussions in preparation to send aid to the area.

As for South Africa itself, much of their offensive abilities were crushed in the first wave hitting Johannesburg, sending refugees pouring across the northern borders and citizens along the coast taking every open refugee space, many departing for Canada, Australia, and the United States after heavy inspection.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) became a household name as they received backing from nearly every western European government and had sponsors all around the world. MSF descended on the stricken areas behind the lines of the horde under heavy military protection, finding survivors and saving who they could through the use of helicopters and similar quick aircraft.

Then the threat spread to Namibia, Botswana, and to everyone's confusion; Indonesia. An outbreak in the city of Makassar, an island in Asia, seemed to reinforce the seriousness of the issue and the first responses of helping others began to be redirected to securing the internal state. The flood of support and promises of aid began to trickle out, leaving a bleak and horrific fate for many still trapped between the horde and the sea. The population of Maputo, capital of Mozambique, were driven into the ocean on shaky homemade rafts and overstuffed barges, hundreds of thousands drowned rather than be eaten alive.

---

Ox withheld a scoff, picking out his sister amongst the debaters. No doubt she would be going down to Earth just so she could kill things. A girl drew his attention though, one of the speakers from before. She was clearly not having a good time, and her miffed expression on her youthful face bothered Ox. He looked away from her, face unreadable.

"What Claire is trying to say is that she and I both want to help the mortals, but we must be careful with how we go about it. This disease is of their own creation, not any of ours. If we handle this incorrectly, we may end up either not doing anything at all, or even helping the disease rather than stopping it."

The mortals created it then? Surely he could destroy it if that were the case? Yet even as he felt the tremble of several strings that were bound to him, he knew it would be much more difficult than that. He narrowed his eyes in anger, making a vague gesture with his hand that signaled a bound spirit to manifest. It was a young vampire, slain by the horde seconds ago.

”Warn your kin of the coming threats, tell them of your struggle.”

The ghost seemed to evaporate, going back down to the mortal plane and spreading the words of it's god.

Occus' attention was drawn back to the debate when a familiar aura made itself known, heralding the arrival of Cythlla. Ox grimaced, he was not very fond of immortals of madness, not after the battle with Dionysus at least. Her presence was likely to bring nothing but more conflict among the Merged, as if they needed more.

"I don't think we should help the humans. They can figure this out for themselves. They made this mess afterall, they should be the ones to clean it up." Cythlla said to the other gods after her entrance had gotten the attention of everyone. "So don't even bother with that cure of yours, your just wasteing your own time and resources. I say leave them." Cythlla said repeating her idea of leaving the humans alone.

Her words did have merit, if the mortals made the disease it was their own problem. He would help those who asked for it, but he would not endeavor to fight humanity's battles for them. They were hardly his responsibility. He ignored the niggling of discomfort he felt at leaving the young to die before truly tasting life.

”Save them… they are so few.”

Ox ignored the Heart, who knew what she was talking about now.

A distant echo of power reached him, one of his more powerful spawn had opened a gate to Wickedeisos. The various Fae were turning to him for protection once more. His focus elsewhere, he missed a part of the argument, but hearing his sister's voice refocused him.

"And you," She nodded begrudgingly to Ox, "This nonsense is right up your alley. Vampires? The undead? You're a necromancer and you're telling me you have no idea how to combat the risen dead?" She shook her head, "No matter what this is, this should be simple enough for any of us to handle. The obvious weakness is the brain or the spinal column."

Ox bristled under the insult, of course he knew how to deal with them, he'd just burn them out of existence if that's what it came to. What bothered him was he couldn't understand the magic behind them, and having some of the greatest Necromancy spells in existence at his fingertips, that was quite the feature. He was concerned about immortal involvement, of their apparent resistance to low level magics, and of course, of how virulent they were. He knew for a fact the bodies of at least three vampires, five werewolves, and twenty-two witches were among the horde. Why was the disease affecting his people? Their souls were safe with him, but their bodies were a different story. How would the horde be affected by gaining supernatural members? It was not a good situation, though once again surrounded by the squabbling Merged, reminding him so much of the Pantheons, he remembered why he'd distanced himself from this in the first place.

Listening to a soft girl speak up uncertainly, Ox couldn't help but be struck be how naive some of them were. The debaters were quick to point this out, Jera's own cynical response mirroring his thoughts. The Merged were not known, certainly not worshiped. Or at least not all of them. Spreading his name among wiccans, cultists, and the supernatural Ox occasionally heard the prayers of the desperate calling out to him.

Of course, Jera had to continue to fire at him.

She nodded towards Ox and smirked, "Or Occus, Patron God of the Young Adult section of Barnes and Noble? Face it, if the only reason we're doing this is for worshipers, I say give up now! The mortal world has never believed less in gods than they do today! They know more about our parents than they do us!"

She had a point, and the idea was somewhat amusing… but he refused to let her, or anyone for that matter, see he thought the joke was funny.

"Look, whether you all want to help the mortals or not doesn't matter to me. I'll be going down there no matter what. The way I see it, any fight's a good fight and these undead will probably take a little more effort than the average mortal. And if this nonsense really does get out of control, someone has to make some effort to fight off Armageddon." She said, bitterly.

And there it was, always eager to commit 'glorious' murder. At least it was on something that deserved it, mindless creations of purposelessness that they were.

Then there was another speaking up for Humanity; because it was the right thing to do? Who cares?

”Anatole is right, we've been terrible role models.” A man in red spoke up, ”The mortals do not deserve our silence, why should we not grant them boons for goodly deeds?”

Deciding he'd had enough of this uselessness, Ox decided to take his leave. ”Arguing will get you nothing. Take action if that is your will, if not then this no longer concerns you.” He gestured around him in disgust, ”You look like you're parents.” He observed aloud, taking one last look around him at the gathered deities, disdain and frustration in his words. He dissolved into motes of violet darkness, reassembling himself in Wickedeisos to meet with the Fae arriving from the mortal plane.

"I'll join you." Landon chimed in. "This might prove good for me, and there's a theory I want to try out. If we could make this flashy though that would help me out, I am actually looking to see if I can get a few believers. The mortals in Africa have believed in some crazy things in the past, maybe I can be one of their gods. Although hopefully this has spread farther than South Africa. I'm going to need some smaller under developed tribes to believe me, otherwise you'll probably be right and I'll just become Jack Frost."

The conversation was getting boring again and Landon liked the turn Jera decided to take. He didn't care much about Anatole's crusade, but it seemed like a group was preparing to venture down. He was rather new to being a god and wanted to see how much followers could help him with his powers. If I get enough requests of others maybe I can use them to do what I want instead.

@Hjalti@ActRaiserTheReturned@Cuccoruler@PerseusArchean

Jera glanced at Anatole incredulously. "Have we been observing the same mortals? Why in all the worlds do the mortals need to know about us? They exist in a world where they've convinced themselves there is no magic beyond science they are yet to understand and have still somehow managed to raise the dead! If we revealed ourselves to them then the best we could hope for is that they would use all we taught them to fight each other over which of us is the "true" god!"

She shook her head. "I'm in favor of battle, but I can tell you from experience that battle with no end is tiresome and monotonous. And then there's the worst case scenario; They classify us as a genetic abnormality, the next stage of mortal 'evolution' and study us in the hopes of attaining immortality and godhood themselves! Is that what you want, a world full of billions of bickering gods?"

It was then that Ox finally decided to speak his mind, calling one of his followers into the room to spread the message of the undead plague before taking his own jab at the group that made Jera smile sardonically.

"Well if we remind you of our parents so much, maybe you should kill or enslave us. Or are you waiting for your children to return the favor one day? I do so love how you surround yourself with mortal youth, Ox, yet have learned nothing from them. Tell us, how many mortals have you encountered who slaughter or subjugate those who came before them? I think it would certainly make American inheritance laws quite interesting!" But he'd already disappeared, much to her chagrin.

Finally, turning to Landon, Jera gave a resigned shrug. "Whatever motivates you. Believing in you can't be worse than what some of those witch doctors have been filling their heads with. If you want flashy though, I'd take advantage of their ability to broadcast events live across the planet."

@rechonq@PerseusArchean@ActRaiserTheReturned

Cia shivered when she was yelled at by one of the merged. She did not like to be yelled at but atleast it seemed like they were making progress. She looked at the others with a bit of worry as many of them argued against helping the humans. Yet there were some who chose to act instead of just watch what was happening. Cia couldn't agree with them more. Of course with her powers she couldn't really do anything to help the humans, sure she could heal, but her magic didn't help when a virus is man made. They were entirely ineffective against man made viruses like this. Cia for now just asked her followers to help others and protect themselves if it did spread much further.

Cythlla had no plans of doing anything but watch as the events played out. All with a smirk on her face, she loved watching the humans struggle when something like this happened. It was always so much fun for her to watch them suffer under their own mistakes. Though if all the human's died it was no difference to her, she could then state her plan to the others if that happened. Her plan was to recreate the world, or at the very least, make a new race of followers.

Down on the earth a scientist by the name of Sven was working frantically to find a cure of the disease he has created. That or atleast finding a vaccine would be good enough. He was currently situated in a lab up towards egypt. There were protesters outside of the lab who were currently being kept back by the local police thankfully these were peaceful protestors. All of them asking for Sven to resign as he had made such a huge mess.

Sven kept working on his attempts at a vaccine though he was getting at this point working through the night. Coffee being the only thing that kept him awake. He was getting closer, though it seemed like for each step forward there was a step back as well. His assistants had asked him multiple times to get some rest, but he refused wanting to save humanity by his hands if he could.

Golden sunlight filtered through the cornerstone-gray clouds when their lethargic tumble across the sky permitted it. On occasion, great clefts in the sky's downy, gloomy blanket allowed an entire column of solar radiance to shine down and illuminate the earth, as if lighting the way for some divine being's descent. In such opulent incandescence, the dry skin still clinging to the skull of a goddess looked almost rich enough to be alive.

Yet no life remained, here or anywhere. Sometime before, the skull had borne a petite, flawless face, and surrounded itself in luxuriant, violet locks, but with nobody to hold her cherished face in memory she might have just as well never existed. For certain, the lone, fibrous being stalking along the wasted, yellow field gave no thought for what had been, and carelessly crunched the moldy skull beneath its foot.

Ghostlike, Aforgomon trudged slowly between the clean-picked carcasses of fools who fooled themselves into believing themselves truly divine. When the rotting black fabric clinging to a young, female corpse snagged its foot, it clumsily pulled free, tugging the skeleton gruesomely apart as it did. A soft clang echoed across the deathly silent plain when its shovel smacked against a bone. Aforgomon forgot it as easily as a bad dream and plodded onward, a giant now that the greats were laid low.

The moist ground uttered gooey squelches beneath the lone being's feet, each one a testament to the departed rains. A poetic mortal might have said that even nature itself wept to see the tragedy that enveloped the earth, but no mortals remained, and all of nature's deities lay still in the rain-soaked earth. Aforgomon considered none of this, instead merely moving onward.

In the very middle of the vast expanse of twisted yellow grass knelt a body propped up by its spear. As Aforgomon approached, two gray eyes turned upon its eternal, skeletal grin. With painstaking patience, the monstrosity stooped over the kneeling figure, and beheld that though it moved still, it did not break the rule that spanned the entire world. Faint whispers, dry and ephemeral as tomb dust stirred up by a passing marauder, issued from the body's undead lips. ”I t h o u g h t t h a t y o u m i g h t b e h e r e...a t t h e e n d o f a l l t h i n g s...” It paused, seeded with new knowledge. Aforgomon thought it inappropriate that something might still be moving in a dead world, knew that Occus sustained himself after death with his magic. The dead god mouthed a word a protest, but Aforgomon's sinister talons slipped out, grasped the spear, and gently pulled it free. Then it reached down while the corpse gasped desperately for a last breath, and drew a bead of multicolored liquid from Occus' eye. With a slow, anticipatory gurgle that might have been a sigh, it slid its finger into its mouth and licked away the last god's unspoken, final dream: that as long as he clung to life he might be able to do something,anything, anything at all.

Spear in hand, Aforgomon vanished into a tear of brilliant light.



From a portal of light Aforgomon emerged from a dimension in which the undead virus had conquered the world, even its gods, and into the dimension of its birth. Its red, knobby foot slapped against the marble floor of Mount Olympus, though a part seldom seen by any other god. Aforgomon strode quietly into the room that had been Athena's study, and threw the inert spear of Occus onto a pile of similar objects for later research. Then it faded away again, as if it never existed.

Next, Aforgomon appeared on a hillside in South Africa, where it knew the outbreak of the humans' plague had started. Over the course of a few moments, more and more of its presence manifested there, until a full-bodied Aforgomon stood sentry-like on the ridge. Below, a village protected for a while by walls was just now succumbing to the undead onslaught. Aforgomon strode boldly down the main street, unnoticed by the panicked populace, and seized a zombie in its outstretched claw. Like a man subduing a dog, it flattened the zombie's head against the ground, and shed light into its mind to see if it could dream.

The time passed, and others joined in the conversation of what they, as the Merged, should do about the situation. From what Claire knew of her parents' pasts, this was something done in their own times as well. There was a phrase the humans had that fit this situation. 'History repeats itself.' Claire wanted nothing to do with this idiocy, so she decided to just return to the real realm. Back to people that call her their friend. Back to a place where she could actually DO something, instead of listen and contribute to a debater hat could go on and on until the last human is no longer alive.

Claire let out a soft sigh of frustration, before saying to her sister, "I knew I shouldn't have come. Seeya later, Yuki."

"Claire, wai-"

In an instant, Claire was gone. Yuki sighed. Her half-sister had ways been a bit stubborn, but she didn't think that attending one of these meetings would stress her out so much. For now, she'd have to speak for both herself and Claire, at least for a little while. She'd have to return as well.

...

Claire reappeared on the Earth, in the guise of a human. She didn't know anything big about magic and science. She presided over the Dusk and music. Still, because she presided over such things, she was more connected to the spirits of humans. She even lived among them, and befriended them. Hell, she was 'trying to survive' with a small group of others. She and Yuki had used 'going out on a food run' as an excuse to attend the meeting, as such, Claire made sure to arrive at a grocery store.

The place was left in a messy state, as other humans no doubt attempted to take as much as they could. What was left was mostly spoiled, and inedible. The best she could salvage from the place were a bunch of chips and things that could really only be considered as snacks. Still, it was better than nothing for those she was getting them for.

The zombies on her way back was nothing she was afraid of, though she had to restrict herself to using weapons instead of powers, in case someone was around. She did return to her friends, and told them that her sister was still out looking for water.

One would wonder why Claire preferred doing things like this, rather than attend a meeting that sought a conclusion. Her reason was that the outcome would take forever to come along, and that she preferred to attempt to save those she could, rather than let them die.