Gods Do Fall [Caleb's backstory]

Show us graphics, music and writing that you've done, whether you're putting it in Fraxy or not.
Post Reply
User avatar
AlexMdle
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 1189
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:36 pm
Epicness: micro skills

Gods Do Fall [Caleb's backstory]

Post by AlexMdle »

1: Simulacrum of Man

There exists a world far beyond, where mortal eyes and the gaze of eternals can't reach. A land which cannot be conceived of, in neither realm of the real and the imaginary.
Far beyond the infinite void, where universe ends. Outside.
Unconstrained by the fickle laws that govern our world, the beings of that realm know no joy, pride or anger. Conflict is far below their machinations, as their thoughts and actions are inseparable.
Where time has no meaning and space need not be far or close. Separated through the void, our realm appears but a sphere of void, through which nothing can pierce.

Just like we cannot understand the true nature of the smallest of particles that make us whole, how we have to theorize about things too small and complex, did the beings ponder at the true nature of that "sphere".
Could it be that it can be entered? If so, then how?
One after another, did many attempt to gain entrance, but found no way to do so. Their power was always too great.

It was then that two of those beings managed to finally understand what was in their grasp all along. To abandon the powers and feats that could not exist within our small, limited space, to become like the smallest, tiniest speck of dust to understand it's meaning. To learn trough sacrifice.
As they emerged within, they were but what could be the closest thing the universe could produce to match their form - a raw mass of fulfilled potential. Disembodied forces, rapidly bleeding but stabilizing.
It was as if a man with thousand senses was suddenly reduced to just five. The shock of relativity, the confusion of separate thought. As brothers they felt each other close by and knew they were not alone.
Their names were Quazeltoth and Allmacht.

As they finally came to a rest and could perceive the world around them, they were astonished.
Uncounted stars littered this vastly infinite space, each a wonder as to a newborn god. They had to learn more and so they traveled through the vast ocean between realms. Through cosmos.
Shifting and changing as they understood more of what the world had to show, they took forms of two comets to better match the celestial bodies they flashed across.
During this time Allmacht grew fascinated by the nature of this alien new world. The rhytm of the stars, the silent cosmic plan that had a place for every tiny part, where everything played a role. This discovery of cause and effect filled him with a great warmth, the pride of planning, the joy of scheming...
He knew full well his thoughts and actions were now his only. He would plot a great machination, the greatest of the world. To lead him home. In time.

However soon, did the brothers come across a peculiar sight. A rock like any, orbiting around a distant sun. A planet called Haven. However, something small and unsightly seemed to happen on it's surface.
Allmacht took the initiative, becoming a giant beacon to look down. There he saw a weird mass. Wood and plant, flesh and bone, plant, animal and human. Scurrying in sickeningly chaotic way, he felt repulsed by such lack of order.
Quazeltoth however, grew curious ever more. Something about them excited him and nagged at the corner of his mind. He longed to understand why. He wanted to see those beings up close. Closer.

There, a man holding a hammer. A blacksmith. His hair hangs in wild, black locks. His head bobs slightly as he forges metal, his hands rough and ashen. Quazeltoth flinched and his head was like the man's and his body was like that of a man and vestments wrapped his form.
As such he was still of divine matter, but looked like human, walked like human and hoped to understand the human way, but did not. Baffled, he decided to querry the humans himself.
He descended down and walked on solid earth, going through a small settlement.
There he saw a farmer planting wheat. He turned to him and asked "Farmer, why do you plant wheat?". The farmer turned to the stranger with a look of surprise "Why, of course to eat. Were we not to plant food and eat, we would surely starve and die.".
Quazeltoth continued to walk until he saw a man walk hand in hand with a woman. He asked the man "Why do you hold this woman so close to you?" and the man answered "Because this is a woman I love. I want to spend my life together with her."
Quazeltoth was puzzled by this and walked more until he came across the scene of an execution. He walked up to a guard and asked "Why are you killing this man?" The guard answered "This man is a thief and a murderer. For his crimes he will pay with the highest of prices, with his life.".
And so Quazeltoth was sure, that life was what made them so interesting to him. He decided to spend a week more with the humans to learn their ways, to understand why they regard their life as so precious.

Meanwhile, the diviners looked up in the sky and saw the beacon that was Allmacht. They did not understand the meaning of this, for it was not a sign of any god they knew.
Fearful of the sign being a bad omen, they turned to prayers and told the gods about their worries. And the gods grew alarmed too, for this was clearly a divine work of unknown origin. They decided to hold a council.

"Send me", said Tenuch, the eldest son, the god of bloody and violent conflict "This foe will shatter on my shield and fall to my sword." The war-god raised his shield and sword as if to demonstrate his power.
However, the father-god Duzhahagan was not impressed. His wizened hand reached out and gestured for his youngest son, Xqzarch to come closer. Xqzarch was the patron god of thieves, of the night, called the Darkener. He was a cunning warrior as much as he was a smooth talker and a known weasel in the divine circles.
"I choose you, my younger son." said Duzhahagan, "For you should try and make peace with the unknown force and strike only if it is hostile to us or our protected realms." Xqzarch was honored and would depart at once.
His elder brother was angered that he was chosen instead, but he loved his younger brother. He gave him his sword as a charm of good luck and sent him off with his blessings. "If you should find yourself failing, hold the sword aloft and I will depart at once with all my war-chariots to lend you help."

And so it was that Xqzarch floated far atop of the world, higher than the clouds, to reach Allmacht. Once he approached, Allmacht changed it's form. It grew into a swirling vortex and an eye. Betentacled yet winged.
Xqzarch approached this bizzare shape and asked "Who are you and for what reason do you seek our lands?".
Allmacht replied in it's own divine tongue, speaking directly to the mind. "I am called Allmacht. I am the seeker that sees all, I am the force that moves all. I have come to this world through curiosity, now I am here to end all curiosity."
Xqzarch was in distress at hearing those word-shapes in his mind. "What madness do you speak?" he asked again.
"Madness?" Allmacht replied "I am the natural order of things. I will put the world to my affairs, to create the way through which to guide it all to beyond your eternal horizons. I will let my world spill into yours."
Xquzarch understood that there was no way to argue with the creature. Its words ringed in his mind, it showed him the terrible visions of unblemished order. Of life put to create a machine that would pierce the veils of space into the place beyond the void.
It had to be stopped. A fierce fight ensued.

At this moment, Quazeltoth was returning from his time on Haven. Happy with newfound knowledge, he was anxious to tell Allmacht all about the humans and their intricate sets of values.
However, as he returned, he saw his brother do battle with Xqzarch. Allmacht was almost infallible with his awesome powers, but however perfect those were, it was not enough to withstand the savage blows of the Darkener. Allmacht was fighting a losing fight.
At that moment Quazeltoth leapt between the fighting gods, outstretching his human arms and legs, as a living shield between Xqzarch and Allmacht.
"If you want to harm my brother, you have to first go through me." he said. Little did he know that this was all that Allmacht needed.
Within a single moment, Allmacht's sharp appendages pierced Quazeltoth's shoulder and breast, drinking his lifeblood and power. Quazeltoth was too shocked at the sudden betrayal to react.
Xqzarch saw Allmacht become stronger and stronger with each second and finally reacted, severing the appendages before he could drain the last drop of power from his brother.
Unconscious and powerless, Quazeltoth fell down to Haven, landing with a massive crash. The tides of celestial battle have been turned.

It is said that Allmacht and Xqzarch battled for 3 days and nights straight since then, so that when Xqzarch has grown weary he had no choice but to raise his sword to call his brother and his armies to help.
A bloody war ensued high in the heavens. Allmacht took no effort overcoming the divine cohorts, incinerating, blinding and driving mad all before him, until only Xqzarch and Tenuch remained.
Bloodied and broken, the two gods fought a last stand against the eldritch abomination, but Allmacht was ever persistant.
Finally, with a sweep of his massive wings, he slew Tenuch.
Xqzarch wept bitter tears in anger.
"I curse you wretch! For as long as I live, you will not grasp our lands nor our people." With those words, the Darkener wrapped his many arms around the glowing body of Allmacht, engulfing him whole.

Allmacht just laughed. "Your strength will not let you hold me forever. Eventually, even you will be my servant."

As such did the two remain in the sky for the next millenia, a new moon, a remnant of a long-past war and a terrible omen for a long distant day...


Many years later, a huntsman was walking down an overgrown road. The day was bright and unbearably hot, so he decided to take place in the shade of a large cherry tree.
However, a sudden noise disturbed him. He saw a hand dig out from the roots. He was frightened, but grasped it and helped pull the rest of the struggling body out.

And out emerged a man with wild locks of black hair, devoid of memories of his past.
The hunter decided to name him Caleb.
Now under new management.

User avatar
AlexMdle
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 1189
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:36 pm
Epicness: micro skills

Re: Gods Do Fall [Caleb's backstory]

Post by AlexMdle »

2: Price of life

The huntsman has taken Caleb in as his son. He taught him all crafts he knew and was pleased to see that the knowledge did not fall on deaf ears, for Caleb was an earnest man and a hard worker.
He seemed to be possessed of feline grace and oxen strength, carrying the largest of burdens and hunting the swiftest of game. Still though, as the years went by the huntsman grew old and little, yet Caleb seemed unfazed by the ages.
This uncanny feature betrayed his otherworldly nature and tarnished his name and all his feats. Already then did the villagers avoid the huntsman's home. When Caleb was out in the streets, nobody dared look him in the eyes for the fear they would curse them.
When the huntsman finally died, Caleb was left on his own and abandoned by his peers.

One day, he walked out to hunt, as per usual, not to sell, nobody would buy from him anymore. He needed the little he could get just to live through the days. This day however, went bad.
It was as if even the wild was terrified of his presence and has fled the woods. Not a deer to find, not a bird to shoot. He returned from the forest as he entered it, with an empty stomach.
He was prepared to spend the night hungry again, as the sun was setting, when a child crossed his way, carrying a loaf of bread.
The kind child saw Caleb's plight, he split his loaf in two and gave half of it to the starving huntsman. Caleb accepted it with gratitude and was about to continue his way, when a piercing scream came from nearby.
An elder woman, no doubt the boy's mother rushed towards them, cautiosly grabbed the child by hand and backed off, hurling vicious insults at Caleb. Bystanders stopped just to look on the commotion and as the farmers that returned from their fields filled the streets, it was a mob of people, all against one.
"What did he do?" "Did he try to steal the boy's bread?" "Does he have no shame?" "What did you expect from such monster?" "He surely tried to curse the boy for death, like he cursed his father!"
The commotion turned to aggression. The villagers drowned out Caleb's attempts to explain himself and drove him out, throwing stones after him.
"Do not ever return here!"

Caleb had nowhere to go, no home or work and the cold night was about to fall. He was desperate, walking down the road to the next village. It was a faint hope, maybe the rumors did not spread that wide? But they did.
They barred everything where he walked, their doors, their windows, their ears. Caleb was forced to continue his trek.
There, just out the woods, he saw a wandering merchant make camp. The fat trader was snoring loudly in his tent, while two guards were standing outside, both sleeping on their posts.
Caleb has never felt the strings of conscience like this before. He snuck up on the camp and riffled through the bags. Those turned out to be a rich cornucopia of cheese, smoked beef and bread.
The smell alone drove Caleb's hands, he took as much as he could carry and made off, not bothering to cover the deed. He ran as far as he could and sated his hunger.
He never knew that reward could come so easily with so little work. It was just a small taste of a thief's life, but he liked it.
None could spare him a coin for honest work, now he would take it himself.

He spent the next three years as a small-time thief on the streets of the kingdom's capital. Nobody here cared for his age or reputation, they were all amoral, traitorous scum, but it was nothing Caleb couldn't get used to.
He did it all, picked locks, stole food and treasure, roughed up the odd man. Small work for small return. As the city prospered under just rule, there was never a pocket too thin to pick.
Then one day, he was finally ready for the big one. A large heist. Enough money to secure him a life of comfort. He planned to enter the king's own chambers and pick them clean of all things precious.
Under the cover of night, he scaled the walls of the castle, slid between the guards like a shadow and entered the throne room. The fine, decorated throne was bursting with riches, as the king was known to be a man of high standards.
The loot bag was almost full, when Caleb noticed a weird sight. One of the candles on the wall was turned and right next to it, a door of stone was half-open. It must have been a secret passage.
Curious and nervous, Caleb entered the passage, dim candle light showing the way. The way was indeed long, it probably led out of castle, maybe out of town, probably to some small, unseeming house.
As he went further, he started to notice faint yells, no, screams. And it only got worse as he went.
The passage lead to a large, dank room. Spiked cages lined the ceiling, each with a decaying corpse, each with a face frozen in terror. The stench was unbearable.
On the other side of the room, he saw a large table turned upright. A naked person was strapped to it with leather bindings, a tormenter was hunched in front of it, working furiously with sharp tools and instruments.
In his shock, Caleb took an uneasy step, the person turned around with a mad gaze. Caleb knew this face, everyone in the kingdom knew it. This was the king. In middle of a game of torture.

"Who.. are you?" the king asked. Caleb remained silent in horror. The king noticed his fear, he took a step forward and smiled.
"Don't be afraid, this is a good work. You see, I have been a just and honorable king for fifty years already. I am growing old." the king continued to talk as he walked towards Caleb.
"So I need young people. I need young people to look inside. See what makes them young." the king shifted and twisted the scalpel in his hand, holding it at the ready.
Caleb was terrified and looked around for something, anything to grasp in defense. What he found was a poking iron.
He swung it as the king lunged at him, hitting his hand with such force that the scalpel fell from it and the hand itself was brusied and broken.
The king fell to his knees, clutching the hand. Caleb's fear turned to anger.
The king looked back up in his eyes "I dont want to die. I want to live, so I can keep being a go-". The king could not finish the sentence, Caleb already swung the iron again, breaking his shoulder and throwing him to the ground.
He continued to deal blows, unfazed by the pleas for mercy until he could no more. The king was little more than a broken, messy pulp at that point, a dented crown adorning the ruined head.

Then he heard it. Commotion. A group of guards with torches was entering the room. They saw the corpses, the victim on the table, the mutilated cadaver of the king. And of course, Caleb and the bag of loot besides him.
Once more Caleb attempted to prove that he was innocent.

"Did you kill the king?!"
"I... I..."
"Then how can you call yourself innocent?"

The guards overpowered him and laid him in chains. He was tried for the murder of the king and all the dead in the torture chamber. The people have loved their king and hated Caleb even more so.
This time he would not be exiled.
They paraded him on the streets, through crowds of people. Whipping him, throwing filth in his face. Caleb could not find strength to answer.
Decorated officials stood high on pedestals, saying loud words, promising pain and retribution.
He will be hung, he will be quartered, his corpse will be fed to the fire and the sea! And each time the crowd cheered.

Finally, he was led forward to the gallows. They stripped his clothes and kicked him forward. The executioner put a bag over his head and a noose over his neck. It was all over.
In a few minutes he heard the loudest of cheerings and a snap. Everything went dark.


The age could not take him, death refused to be more than a dream.
He did not expect to wake up. His eyes refused to open, he was stuck in a biting, cold darkness.
He felt vermin burrow through his insides, his limbs ached and could not move.
It was pain. All torture and pain. For hours, or days, he knew he was laying in a waking nightmare. Was this the purgatory? Was all that awaited him now an eternal punishment?
No, his eyes finally opened. Dry and murky, he saw the sky. He knew he was not dead.
In time, his limbs regained feeling, the maggots left his flesh.
He raised his body and expelled a fit of coughs.
He was on a beach.
Even the sea did not want him.
He fell to his knees and cried. There was nothing more he could do.
Now under new management.

Post Reply
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests