The Deity

In the beginning, there was one great plane, known as the heavenly palace. But, for the gods that lived there to maintain their power, they had to create another plane, known as the Mortal Grounds. With this, they created the great vault of the lost, a place for all those who were evil to be sent. But, soon after they noticed crime in the Mortal Grounds, the great god of justice made a decision: He would look into the future of all those that were born and those who were going to commit crimes to the vault of the lost. The supreme god agreed with this decision, saying it was the only way for crime to truly be eliminated.

So, as time passed on, it became a ritual of sorts in the mortal plane. A mother would watch her child, and it would sometimes fade away into nothing, going to the vault of the lost. Soon, the people began to pray to the deity that they believed would save them. They prayed and prayed and prayed every day, so much so that their collective prayer formed a being in the heavenly palace, the first and last deity, known as the deity of hope. Soon after, the great deity went to confront the supreme god to beg for his people to be allowed to keep their children.

But, the supreme god simply laughed. He told the deity that he had no right in coming before him, and only to ever return if it was a serious matter. The deity did not take this for an answer, and replied only with, “I am no longer asking. Stop taking my people’s children.” The supreme god again laughed, and The Deity charged the supreme god. Suddenly, The supreme god stopped his laughing, and The Deity seemed to freeze mid sprint.

“Deity of hope, you have committed the cardinal sin of attempted assassination of the Supreme God. The punishment for such a crime is eternal prison in the vault of the lost. Never shall you return to the heavenly palace, nor will you ever see your people outside of the vault.”

And with that, everything for The Deity turned dark. For many millennia, The Deity sat in the vault of the lost, seeing the people that prayed for him to help fall into the vault. He could do nothing, as he saw no escape from the vault. But, one day, he heard someone in the vault say something that intrigued him:

“The gods have sent me to the depths of this vault for I was the one who forged the great god slaying armament.”

He knew not who said it, or where the person who said it was, but he knew what he had to do. He had to escape the depths of the vault, and he shall, for nothing can stop the force of his vengeance and wrath. So he waited, and he watched. And as he sat in the vault, he observed how people were sent into the vault. He especially was interested in the small rip it created in the darkness, and how that very rip led to the Mortal Grounds.

So, when he noticed that a rip had just opened near him, he jumped at the opportunity to escape. He changed his form to that of a mortal man, and slipped through the small tear. As he emerged, he realized that he had just gone to the place where one of the children had been sent, and immediately realized he was in a nursery, and noticed a mother weeping in front of him. The woman looked up at him, and asked, “Are you the one who takes our children from our arms?” and all The Deity could say was, feeling an emotion of sadness and sympathy greater than he had ever felt, “No, but I intend to stop the ones who do.”

The Deity left the house, and he was noticed by many for his unbelievably muscular stature, so muscular that it seemed to be impossible for a man to ever become as strong as him. He began to ask around, looking for a local church to talk to one of the elders of religion. He was soon directed to a grand building, one fit for a king, and entered into it to find a priest awaiting him.

“What brings you into the church, conflicted one?” The Priest asked The Deity. Confused at what he meant by conflicted, he asked, “I come looking for you, but why do you call me ‘conflicted’?”. The Priest gave The Deity another look, and said “You appear to be a mortal man, but you know just as well as I that you are no mortal. I call you conflicted because your aura seems to be both heavenly and godlike, as well as dark and devilish. What brings you to me, great immortal?” The Deity, in shock at being figured out, attempted to remain calm and simply answered, “While my form may be too grand to be Mortal, I come here looking for information on the great God Slaying Armament, forged by one who was sent to the vault of the lost. What do you know about the whereabouts of this great weapon?”

The Priest gasped, and stepped back a bit. “That armament was forged by one who lived in blasphemy, and should never be used by anyone, Mortal or not. I can not tell you about this armament, and suggest you leave and never return, before I lock you in a holy state and send you to the vault myself.”

The Deity stood his ground, hoping he could get more out of this Priest. But, the priest was already reciting a spell to lock him away. The Deity jumped at him and snapped the Priest’s neck in one blow, killing him instantly.

“Should have told me the information I needed,” Said The Deity, standing over the body of The Priest. The Deity proceeded to exit the church, and went to the local smith, for he had an idea.

As the Deity approached the smith, he saw a man hard at work, forming a beautiful sword. He knew almost instantly that he would find the information he needed here.

“Hello, sir, do you have a moment?” The Deity called to the Smith, who stopped his work and walked over to The Deity.

“Hi, sir, I need to ask what you know of the God Slaying Armament, specifically where it can be found.” The Deity inquired.

The Smith looked at him, and only said, “The armament you speak of can only be found in the place where the world is furthest from its gods.” The smith proceeded to walk away, but the deity already knew where he had to go, for he had been close to it all along.

The Deity began his trek to the place he had learned about in the heavenly palace, known as the temple of the lost. It housed the one way rip between the Mortal Grounds and The Vault of the Lost. The Deity realized shortly after that the powers he once had as a deity were no longer there, most likely due to the fact he was technically no longer a divine being. So for 3 long weeks he walked in all conditions, whether it be raining, snowing, or blistering hot. And after those 3 long weeks of walking he arrived at a run down building, taken by weather and wildlife. He entered through the door to find it completely empty, except for a large door, imbued with dark obsidian and having a large, dark slot, and a large table, with a large item sitting on it, wrapped in black silk.

The Deity approached the table first, going for the item, assuming it was the armament. But, after unwrapping the large object, all he found was a hilt of a sword, and text, reading “Go, take the power of the vault, and slay those who oppose you.”

The Deity grabbed the hilt and approached the large door. He slotted in the hilt, and the entire room turned pitch black. There was a loud roaring, and there were screams, presumably of those who were locked in the vault. Suddenly, all of the sound ceased. There was one large clang, and then The Deity pulled the armament from the door.

The door had been completely destroyed, leaving a pile of rubble behind. As for the armament, it was magnificent and terrifying. The blade was large, spanning 10 feet in length and 3 feet in width, so large that it could only be wielded by one of immeasurable strength. It was black and jagged, and the edge looked to be sharp enough to cut stone as if it were warm butter. It had an evil aura to it, and it felt to The Deity as if it had souls trapped in it, almost as if the sword had absorbed the Vault and the souls in it.

But The Deity did not care. He no longer truly cared about his people in the vault, he had one drive now, and that was killing the gods. He no longer felt compassion for those that were in his way, and realized that this armament had restored his previous power, but instead of it being holy power, it derived its strength from the darkness of the vault.

Using his now restored power, he made his way with speed to the heavenly palace. He approached the palace and the first thing he noticed was that he was making everything wither as he approached it, as if he had become death itself. The Deity walked the same path he had walked many millennia ago to aid his people, and now he was walking the path to kill the gods.

The Deity blew open the doors to the Supreme God’s Hall, and stormed in, his armament dragging behind him, making no sound, as if the sword was meant to be used by an assassin. The Supreme God noticed The Deity, and laughed, amused by the appearance of The Deity.

“I thought I told you to never return, old fool. I will end you here and now, so you will never cause someone to waste as much time as I have wasted on you.” The supreme god cackled.

But, as The Supreme God stretched out his arm to end The Deity, The Deity slashed his sword in front of him, and seemed to cut the spell that flew at him. The Supreme God was taken aback, and The Deity continued his approach. The Supreme God’s laughter came to a stop, and he continued to launch spells at The Deity, only for them to be stopped by the legendary armament.

“Your spells are worthless,” The Deity said arrogantly to the Supreme God. “You should have listened to me that day many millennia ago.”

“You do not understand, foolish Deity. If you end me, the ones you care for so much will fade with my life.” The Supreme God told The Deity.

And while deep down The Deity knew the Supreme God was right, he did not care, for his anger took control, and all he wanted was to kill The Supreme God. So, The Deity, angered by what The Supreme God had said, hastened his approach, and within minutes, despite the vain attempts of The Supreme God, The Deity reached The throne of The Supreme God, and brought the God Slaying Armament to his throat.

“You have betrayed me and my people. I do not care what lies you spew to save yourself, but I will end you here, and your torture of my people will come to an end.” The Deity said as if he were sentencing someone to eternal damnation. As The Deity brought the armament above his head to cleave The Supreme God in half, The Supreme God uttered his final breath, and said, “You always were the most foolish of the divine beings.”

And with that, The Deity brought the God Slaying Armament down, driving The Supreme God into two different halves, but there was no gore, and all that emerged from the body of The Supreme God was a cloud of darkness.

The Deity approached the throne to take the place he so believed he earned, and as he sat in the throne, he waited to feel his power elevate.

But it didn’t. He had no power as there could only ever be one Supreme God to ever exist, and he realized that The Supreme God did not die, but had been trapped in the vault that was now contained in his armament, so he still existed, but could do nothing with his power.

And That’s when The Deity realized that The Supreme God did not lie about how his people would fall. Without the order that The Supreme God brought, the Great Mortal Grounds would fall to disease and famine, and may be completely ripped apart.

The Deity could do nothing but watch. For the next 100 years, The Deity watched in anguish as his people fell, all because he allowed his anger and hate for The Supreme God to get the better of him. Eventually, his entire people fell, and all of them died.

Without his people, The Deity slowly began to fade. His people prayed for him, which gave him existence, but he could only exist for as long as his people prayed for him. And so he sat on that throne, thinking about how he had come so far for his people to die. He remembered when he slayed the priest who only wanted the best for him and his people, and how he killed him despite his pure soul. He wondered about the mother he had first encountered, and how he never managed to keep his promise to her. And finally, as he faded away completely and the God Slaying Armament fell to the ground, all he could think about was how much better his people would be doing if he had just stayed in the vault.