[IC] When the Gods return.

[NotAPotato]

As night fell nearly a hundred robed figures moved single file down into the ruin that was once Malthael's temple. These robed figures ranged from common folk to knights and nobles, all having heard the tales of the return of the gods and all here flocking to Lana in an effort to appease Malthael so that he would spare them from the coming fire. The temple was embedded in the earth, made of a mixture of grey stone and massive chunks of obsidian, the entrance marked by two massive obsidian statues of Malthael himself. One would think this would draw attention from the holy knights from the nearby capital city, but enough nobles and ladys of high birth came to the temple that the king could not muster enough of a force to fight the host of a god.

" The first to return and the last to fall, Lord Malthael will deliver us from the coming fire and bring vengeance upon our enemies in the name of those who have been wronged, his host is his prophet and we are his tools... " The would-be priest continued his rant, it always began the same way, revering Malthael as some sort of savior, though Lana knew the truth, that Malthael had a personal stake in the coming battle and that saving the mortal realm was just a step along the road to his own vengeance.

" Let all who have been wronged step forward now and make their sacrifices, so that Malthael may know who is worthy of the prophet's attention. "It came to THAT point now, where spoiled nobles and poverty ridden common-folk would would spill a few drops of their own blood upon a marble alter in an effort to find an easy solution to their petty problems, whether it be family issues, or wishing the death of the king for the rise in taxes. Malthael found all of the requests funny, none were serious enough to warrant risking his only host.

Lana stood at the head of this gathering, watching over the crowd of almost a hundred people. Some avoided eye contact but a few looked to her with begging eyes, hoping and praying against all odds that this young woman and people like her could actually stop a threat that caused mortal men to go mad upon seeing it. Lana sighed, she wore a rather fine set of black robes that hid her body from the neck down, she left the hood down as she surveyed the crowd, today seemed different and Malthael seemed to agree, something was going to happen sooner rather than later.

[Mizos]

Kai had learned quickly and at a young age that there would be days when the world seemed against you, in such circumstances it was important to have a positive mindset and tackle such issues with determination and tenacity. Standing on his small farm, the bright sun shining high in the sky a cool breeze brushing past him, ticking the skin not covered by his overalls. A day like this was a perfect time for things to go wrong. Staring ahead his watering can in his left hand pouring excess water onto his planted melons he found out very quickly today was one of those days. A rectangular shaped structure made of old yellow brick had planted itself right in the middle of his field, towering over him and his simple home nearby. His gaze moved down to the crushed vegetables the structure had crushed with it's arrival and his mouth twitched to the side as he looked back at the building. The object that had crushed most his field and his dinner for the next few weeks was a temple, the type that had been appearing as of late, places where artifacts of the gods rested. The gods had destroyed his crops and there was little he could do to fix it.

For a while now Kai had heard whispers in his dreams, had caught the visage of a woman in the corner of his eyes as he worked his field, from the moment he woke to when he slept he felt eyes upon him. He figured it was his imagination and paid it no real mind, but staring at the large temple he supposed whoever was trying to talk to him got impatient. Thus leading Kai back to his earlier lesson, there were days when the world seemed against you but as he turned and walked away from the temple he realized that today was not a day to tackle this issue, he was going to nap and pretend it wasn't there.

Regretfully the screaming in his head kept him from going through his day, the voice in his skull had gotten louder no longer whispers but a voice, and an annoying one at that telling him to enter the temple. The whole matter was giving him a headache and though he ignored it until night fell he found it hard to sleep with the continued yelling it seemed the only solution to true slumber was to heed the voice. With little other choice Kai entered into the temple, moving down narrow passageways, grabbing a torch off the faded wall for light as he delved deeper into the musty temple until he came across a large room, with a single bridge leading to a center altar. Avoiding the temptation to look down into the darkness below he stepped onto the pillar rising out of the shadows below and approached the small altar with a single coin resting on it, the moonlight cast down onto the coin from an opening above and Kai stared at the coin for a moment.
"Take it."
The voice was clear in his skull and Kai blinked realizing what this was, an artifact of the gods, and item that would give him immense magical power. Knowing this he started to turn around only for the bridge behind him to break apart and fall into the darkness below, his eyes twitched at this knowing it was the gods doing and with a heavy sigh he turned around and reaching forward took hold of the coin.

---

"Yes I would like to buy some vegetables," Kai said holding out Saitra's coin.
The screaming in his head caused him to bring a hand to his head, he had yet to fully become Saitra's host, refusing to activate the Artifact no matter how much she asked him, she had revealed her name when he took the coin and he informed her that he was going to get the gold back that he lost. Regretfully no one recognized the coin as any real currency as it wasn't and some ran away from him, though Saitra wouldn't explain why. She spoke to him repeatedly telling him to activate the Artifact, to gain immeasurable power but he declined and he realized very quickly that this coin was almost stuck to him, and she was already bound to him but he refused her power to fully cement what he considered a parasitic relationship. His attention moved to a gathering of people moving towards another one of the temples, Kai's eyes narrowed slightly and he went to follow the crowd, if they were moving to see another host than maybe they could give him some answers.

Kai had gathered his simple outfit upon leaving his home pulling the hood up as he walked into the temple, Saitra informed him that asking questions here would be meaningless, minus the fact that he spoke in a monotone voice with a light tone, making him sound uninterested in almost everything, it would be hard to take him seriously, the god here wasn't going to answer his questions and she doubted the host would. Kai ignored the voice in his head and stood in the crowd waiting for his turn, he said nothing watching the others rely on someone else to do their own jobs, he closed his eyes tired of watching it after a bit.
When his turn came up Kai walked forward lowering his hood as he raised his head and looked into the eyes of the woman.

"...I can feel Malthael here," Saitra said from within his mind. "The power coming from that girl, she is definitely the host,
a message to her is meaningless, we should just-"
"Malthael I'm not here for any blood sacrifice, I got an annoying god in my head that won't leave me alone. My fields have been destroyed and she's bound herself to me. I'm here to ask you how to shut her up. Don't really care about this coming evil or what have you, I just want to work on my farm."
"Are you insane?! Do you understand what you've done. You've asked for something while giving nothing, there is no balance in this!"
"Would you shut up about balance," Kai said looking sideways. "Where's the balance in my broken melons, pay me back damn it."

[NotAPotato]

Lana giggled as the young man finished, silently raising a hand and the preist's face went pale as he quickly ushered the crowd out of the temple. As the temple quickly emptied the priest moved to stand between the stranger and Lana. " I know not who you are, but if you speak true then you are a host, and as a host you have a duty to this world even if you do not wish it. If you ignore this duty you will have no farm let alone a life to spend farming. "Lana watched the preist with an obviously amused grin, he was clearly angry at the young man for various reasons. The preist removed his hood to reveal an aged elf, he looked impossibly old and his glazed eyes scanned the young man as if looking for a weakness. " Such potential wasted on an ignorant and ungrateful youth...

Before the priest could continue Lana raised her hand and rolled her eyes, a voice as smooth as silk and tempered from a great amount of time spent dealing with fanatics leaving her lips. " Calm yourself priest, you forget yourself again and if you continue speaking I may require your life in advance as payment for your words... leave, now. " Without another word the priest left, a clearly distraught look on his face but he did not argue. Lana waited till he left before she spoke. "I apologize, people often forget themselves when their only hope for survival act like spoiled children. In any case I welcome you and your god...Saitra is it? I understand from what Malthael tells me that you are a Goddess of Karma and Fortune? I am Lana and Malthael, God of Blood and Sacrifice is the God I have been lucky enough to be paired with.... tell me, something other than your poor melons must have brought you here, what was it? " As Lana spoke she moved slowly down from where she stood so that she could face the young man while they spoke.

[exotiress]

Onyx sat atop her horse, given to her by one of the people who tried to befriend her. The steed was as dark as the night itself, fitting for the host of the goddess of night. She would have been ecstatic, if Hekate wouldn't have been so silent tonight. The Twin Torches were lit, leading her in the direction she needed to go, yet Onyx had no idea where they were taking her. Onyx had been performing a light show for some children when the torches lit up, blindingly at her side. She knew she had to go somewhere, but Hekate wasn't talking to her

With a sigh, Onyx clicked softly at the horse, telling it to continue forward. It wasn't long before they reached a temple, much like the one Hekate presided over. Onyx could feel an almost... bloodthirsty aura. This was definitely not somewhere Hekate would normally visit.
"I'll ask you one more time, what are we doing here?" Onyx spoke to her goddess. She was uneasy, and it wasn't a feeling she normally experienced.
"There are two hosts here, like you. You must see what they're doing."
"So.. I'm spying?"
"More or less."
Onyx frowned deeply, but continued forward. She knew if she didn't listen, Hekate would scream in her head.

Onyx jumped off the horse and tied it to a tree close by the temple before creeping closer and observing the crowd gathered around. They were all dressed in hoods, and if they spoke it seemed to be in a terrified whisper. The torches were now cold and dark, the fire seeming to have never happened. She put them back in her belt at her waist, and, with an almost annoyed sigh, she disappeared.
Had it been daylight, she would have been spotted immediately as she was just a mass of swirling darkness. In the night, however, it's nearly impossible to see her. Onyx zipped passed the crowd and into the temple, sticking to shadows cast by the torches inside. Once she reached a woman, however, she froze. The woman was speaking to a hooded man, and Onyx stayed back, watching and listening carefully.

[Mizos]

Kai stared at the priest blinking a few times as the man seemed to explain his supposed duty, running a hand through his hair he sighed as the priest stared at him, he made no attempt to tense up or hide anything about himself, he just stared back at him with the same blank expression. What he said was meaningless Saitra had already gone on about some kind of duty, even showed him what he should be doing but digging in his ear Kai patiently waited for the one he addressed to speak to him. When she finally spoke he looked up at her and folded his hands behind head as she sent the priest away.
What an interesting turn of events, also do you feel that...it's like we're being watched."
"Nope," Kai said staring ahead.

Kai squeezed the bridge of his nose when the woman name Lana spoke to him mentioning herself and Malthael, he supposed hosts were like this when they fully fused, or maybe she was a special case, he had no idea and didn't really care. He was also pretty sure she just called him a spoiled child but now wasn't the time to deal with such things, at the moment this girl was the only one that could answer the questions Saitra refused to answer. It seemed this Lana and her god knew who was inside his head as well, that made this a little easier to explain then.
"I'm here for my melons," Kai said simply. "I suppose if I were to name something else it's answers...because my melons were destroyed."
"Would you let go of the melons, look my aim was slightly off."
"Oh yeah your aim was off, a few feet over and you'd owe me a new house," Kai said shaking his head. "Anyway...I just want answers. This god ended up in my head, she made me get her artifact and keeps going on about some great evil, or some beast or something. Look why is this god here and how do I make her go away."

[NotAPotato]

" Another host is close, be aware of this when you speak, they may be listening. " Malthael was less of a voice, and more of an idea, thoughts and feelings that cropped up in the back of Lana's mind mixed in with her own thoughts, making it hard to know what thoughts were her own. " Well then, you must really care for your farm. If I were to guess there are two ways to get rid of the gods, die or fend off the darkness. Trust what your god says, most gods have been alive for hundreds of thousands of years and are more knowledgeable if only due to age. "

For a moment Lana stood silent, but quickly grew bored. " You know that gods can sense power yes? Well, in my experience with Malthael they can. It's truly hard to hide from me in the temple of my own god. " Lana shrugged. " In any case, if you all need somewhere to stay just say so. At the moment Malthael is spending most of his energy tracking the movement of certain creatures with some deals we made, speaking of those deals I will be gone early tomorrow if any of you wish to accompany me. "

[exotiress]

At the woman's word, Onyx froze for a few moments. She supposed it would make sense that other gods could feel her presence, but it's not like Hekate gave her any warning. Onyx sighed and let herself become a whole person again. When she lost her form to shadow, all she could feel was something like a cool breeze through her the whole time. It was comforting, almost comforting enough to fall asleep, but if she did she would immediately regain her body again. When that happened, it was as if every cell in her body was on fire. The first few times she did it, she would let out screams of pain. Now, however, she was accustomed to it. Once she was herself again, she gave a grin towards the woman and the man.
"Trust me, sir, if there was a way to be rid of these gods that didn't involve death, I'd have done it," Onyx said before turning towards the woman again. "In regards to us, we have a home," she said, meaning her and Hekate, "I was just lead her, I'm not sure why."
Onyx waited for Hekate to speak to her, but nothing came. Looking cross, she continued. "Whats this about 'darkness' and 'beasts?' I've heard nothing of the sort."
"That's why we're here," Hekate finally said, "look at how bonded this girl is with Malthael, they're basically the same. We could be one as well, Onyx."
"Why would I want that?" Onyx thought with a quick eyeroll. While she had activated the relic and become a host, she just wasn't 'bonding' material. Hekate would keep her from her passion - fighting.

[Mizos]

Kai moved his hands to his hips and his eye twitched slightly at Lana's advice, he didn't want to listen to Saitra, he didn't doubt that Saitra knew more than she was saying, he doubted the images forced into his skull were practical jokes, and he wasn't sure how but it felt like she was purposely keeping something from him. He looked up at Lana and ran a hand through his hair, it seemed she got the easier one to talk to at least, he almost envied her, minus the fact he was a sacrificial god.
"You know I would ask but she refuses to tell me anything, says it's not fair. You see the information she has is very important so I must give her a piece of information that's just as important...I've lived as a farmer for a long time...there is nothing I've done that is, end of humanity worthy. Thus she just stays silent to my questions...least yours is open to discussing it."
"You make me sound as if I am difficult."
"You are difficult," Kai said simply.

Kai turned to face the newcomer still trying to take in the truth he had just been told about removing Saitra. It seemed the only way to get rid of Saitra was to die, or help her. He had to admit it was a hard decision to make, it seemed the woman that appeared out of nothingness had similar sentiments to him about their hosts, he supposed that meant she had a god in her too.
"I'm not sure what they really are either, these beasts," Kai said looking at the newcomer. "Apparently it's really bad. I guess yours isn't big on explaining either."
Kai looked back at Lana staring at her as he contemplated his next words, he really didn't want to get involved in all this, but this woman was the only person that could give him answers. Ignoring Saitra wasn't really an option, maybe before he had the coin but now her voice was annoyingly clear and loud.
"I have a home on the outskirts of town...but I'd like to find out more about what's going on. Getting Saitra out of my head is a good start to my life returning to normal, I'm guessing if she leaves the temple leaves and I'll get my field back."
This was all speculation but he needed some kind of hope to hold onto.
"Even if it doesn't I'm tired of her speaking in my head," Kai said. "If taking down some darkness get's rid of her I'm open to learning more."

[NotAPotato]

Lana sighed " Well, if you both really need to know... It's not only the gods returning. For every action there is a reaction, The gods have returned and so have their counterparts, evil that was long ago extinguished and the reason the gods dissapeared. I myself don't know too much. Malthael mentions that knowledge is a dangerous thing, especially when that knowledge is of Echidna, mother of all monsters. Malthael says she has not yet arrived in this world, but her children have. The cyclopes, The Hydra, The Empusa, The Chimera. As far as I am able to tell we have a week before they arrive in the mortal realm. "

Lana stretched and yawned " Trust me, Malthael can be an ass sometimes, I understand if you hesitate to follow the advice of your god. Just be mindful of the fact they need this world to survive as much as we do. Me and Malthael are in a unique situation, or so he says. When I first met Malthael he showed me a lot, much of it still confuses me now but I knew at that moment, even though my life had been less than ideal I knew that I would do anything to allow others to be ignorant of these events, losing one's life to events that have nothing to do with them is unfair. I bound myself to Malthael with a blood sacrifice, when I die I serve him in death and in return he lends me his power. I can make similar deals with others but with much less fanciful effects. Take the preist for example, He is bound to me through a sacrifice, I can tell his exact location and could contact him right now from here. Deals are made and sealed with a sacrifice of some kind, most often drops of blood. "

" It may be a good idea to convince them to bind themselves, we should not allow them to leave on a whim, our survival depends on keeping as many allies as possible. " Lana sighed as the thought cropped up in her head, forcing itself to the front of her mind. Yes, but not now, we only just met them you know. " Lana looked up from her own thoughts " At any rate we all need each-other here and we all know that, we cannot change that. For now I must rest, I suggest you stay near the temple due to the holy templars and preists who seek the death of any hosts, they call us fakes, beings of evil bent on the corruption of human life. No matter how powerfull we may be nobody here can currently survive a proper siege from an army.

[exotiress]

Onyx took in everything that was being said between the man and the woman. Hekate hadn't told her much, besides she needed to be here. If what Lana was saying was true, then Hekate had been right. "If it's alright with you, then, I think I'll stay close by. Although, I should probably introduce myself first. I am Onyx, host of the goddess Hekate." Onyx turned towards the man. "Hekate gives information on certain things, but she keeps other things hidden when she has things planned - such as meeting you two. Though, I suppose if you and I became close with our goddesses like Lana and Malthael, we would know a lot more things."
"Malthael gave his host an interesting power. Binding someone to you and knowing their location could come in handy in a fight, but do not allow yourself to be bound, Onyx," Hekate's gentle voice whispered in her mind.
"Can that even happen if I'm a host to you?"
"Yes, you may even have to serve her like she serves Malthael, however I'm not sure on that aspect."
"For a god you sure are useless," Onyx thought before looking back at Lana.
"Before you go rest, you said you had creatures to go after. Will you need any help with that? If we're to stick together, the three of us might as well get to know each other better."

[Mizos]

Kai brought a hand to his face as Lana went on to explain the situation, Saitra of course was more than happy to support the information agreeing with her, though he expected she was willing to talk only because he now knew more. For a moment Kai stared at the ground arms crossed over his chest taking in everything Lana had said, he didn't believe he needed the other two, but he knew the templars at least and he wasn't surprised to hear they wanted the hosts of all things dead. He also knew that no amount of talking was going to change a templar's mind, they had that 'I'm right and you're wrong' mindset down perfectly.
"She is not incorrect, I would prefer this world stay safe and even if you haven't activated my Artifact, I am still bound to you, that's enough for the templars," Saitra said in his skull.

Kai reached up and ruffled his hair with both hands, his life was normal up until a few moments ago, now he was in a temple, talking to two hosts and there was a god screaming in his head about an imminent doom. If he walked away innocent people would end up getting killed, and if the templars didn't kill him, these creatures would. If it wasn't for the fact there was an annoying voice in his head he would believe any of it, so he couldn't fault regular people being oblivious.
"Agh...damn it all," Kai said. "There's always a costs to stuff like this, this is why you don't accept things from strangers."
"I am not a stranger I am a god!"
"Hey I didn't know you or these other two much less their gods that makes you a stranger," Kai said. "Hah...I can't just walk away with innocent people involved. That and I can't get rid of her without destroying this evil right my hands are kind of tied then. I hate it but fine I'll help. My name is Kai...I guess I'm the host of Saitra...I don't really know the gods so you'll have to tell me what yours do."
At the mention of dealing with creatures Kai held up a hand before crossing his arms under his chest.
"I'll be your moral support, I'd rather not activate my Artifact fully...not sure what Saitra would do if I did."
"I would not go to such extremes as Malthael...maybe." Saitra said.
"What do you mean maybe?!" Kai exclaimed. "You'd better not do some sacrifice thing with me, or we're going to have a problem."
Kai looked at the two and cleared his throat.
"...anyway yeah so...moral support."
"...what if I were to offer you a piece of candy?"
"Candy is not going to make me activate your damn artifact, stop trying to bribe me."

[NotAPotato]

Lana shrugged " If you wish to come with me I won't protest, I must say though that it may get a bit violent due to the nature of the creatures I will be hunting as well as my own fighting style, nothing for those who go weak-kneed at the sight of blood. " Lana said with a small grin " At any rate I am glad you are all here, just remember say something if you need help, our eventual fate does not mean we need to walk alone you know. "

[exotiress]

Onyx rubbed her hands together at the mention of violence. It wasn't often she got to experience a good fight, since Hekate was so peaceful. "Ah, actually, would it be alright if I were to stay here tonight?" Onyx asked the woman, "I have a home but it's a good distance from here. It wouldn't be convenient if we're all so far apart from each other."

[Mizos]

Kai sighed and took a seat against the wall, it was still hard to realize the situation that they were in. The other two seemed pretty okay with it but he still didn't like the fact a god was in his head, the templar wanted him dead, and on top of that they would be dealing with dangerous creatures staying with Lana. At the moment he was no better than a criminal however, so it would be for the best to stay near these two, one had answers and the other seemed fine with fighting so he could just hang back and wait for this whole thing to blow over. Though he knew he couldn't leave everything to them, so he wondered if he could handle everything outside of fighting. Putting the thought aside he looked over at Lana.
"Just so you know if you leave these two I'm going to scream in your head all night." Saitra said making sure he understood the circumstances.

"I'm a hostage here by Saitra so I'll be sleeping here too," Kai said. "...I can sleep over here away from you two."
He held up a hand indicating he would give them some manner of privacy, something he wished Saitra would do but that was something for another time.
"Are we going to be heading west?" Kai asked Lana. "I know there's a town that way where the templars don't have that much influence. If people who likes these gods are...friendly will be keeping to those places? If that's the case I might be able to help, I've delivered my crops around the area so I know some stuff. I won't be fighting so feel free to leave anything else to me, least I can do."