@BlackPantherThe nightmares deepend in Alecs mind pulling the god of death far below the earth and further still as the corpses clawed and grasped at him with iron grips, tearing into his body as they pulled the god into total blackness before they hit water so black and thick it might as well have been tar. The only light was the grizzly visage of the ghouls and gheists demanding blood and payment for untimely deaths at the hands of the gods petty war. Further and further they pushed and pulled, clawing him now ineffectively until he hit bedrock.
A single breathe escaped Alec before the seafloor collapsed into a swirling maelstrom into the core of his nightmare dumping the breathless god into a nondescript area. Water 'flowed' behind him but it was corrupted and black with a purplish tinge to it, sticking to Alec stubbornly. A single low burning purple flame lingered in the cavern with seemingly no walls. Millions of figures flittered around the edge of the light but none dared to enter. Colossal creatures screamed their fury and shook the ground in outrage, so close to prey and forbidden their entrance by his command.
From the blackest patch of water it appeared, a hand of bone and twisted flesh struggling to escape its grasp, fingers from another hand forced the tar aside forcibly and deposited him in all its glory.
Thalios slithered his way over weakly to the fire and Alec, grasping the son of Anubis by his neck and hoisting him off the ground. His very touch drained the essence of a god and siphoned it to a new master, purple flames beginning to creep across his flesh as Thalios gently released his grasp. "You look well, Alec." The fleshy skull rasped a laugh as it made its way to the Brightening purple flame behind the two. "You have taken good care of me since my disappearance I see. The essence you ate, a true piece of my being, nourished back to life in the bowels of your unsleeping mind." The terror of the meeting, the ghouls, was fading at the realization. A god of nightmares could not be born through mundane dreams, and only a god experiencing a true nightmare, could muster the energy needed to try. Here in the darkest pit of Alecs mind was the rightful ruler of the Greek Underworld, an ally once upon a time, and a friend still.
Thalios smiled as he slowly turned to stare at Alec. "Time to wake up." The jagged blade of Thalios' broken staff stabbed Alec in the heart.
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Gasping for air the God of the egyptian underworld roused from his slumber as any mortal did, sitting upright and glancing every which way. The fear lasted only a fraction of a second as it was replaced by a soothing sense of calm.
There he stood in the mortal realm, glancing at the stars, was Thalios Reborn in all his twisted glory. His head turned ever so slightly to offer one last 'smile' before purple flame fully enveloped him.
The wind whispered its thanks to his ally
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Darkness, eternal and complete, surrounded Thalios as he emerged somewhere deep in the ground. Drawn to a source of prayer he had never heard but called his name, though not a correct pronunciation or spelling, it prayed to a nightmare figure all the same. Gigantic creatures with towering eye-covered horns roared the name of their deity at a single tar-covered skull of a twisted animal that had developed many horns. Thalios realized at one this skull was their holy symbol and was akin to his own. He would later discover the creature had once been sentient, a chieftan to these monsters, and had brought them to worship the shadows and the nightmares that lingered in their prey.
Through the crowd he walked unapposed to the alter, purple tar igniting as he crossed to illuminate the area for all the humanoids to see him fully.
A collective roar escaped them as finally their god showed itself. Arms outstretched, he spoke to them. "THALIOS!" He roared. The brutish creatures echoed the name.
A poof of purple fire incinerated Thalios' physical body in a display of power that sent the behemoths running in fear and awe. Out into the tunnels, into the darkness, they ran to find offerings and creatures to kill.
Out onto the surface they began their first venture.