The Return of Deus Ex Machina

[GoldWyvern]

OOC: I am at work, and I am thinking about the return of the Old Gods. In that, I have come up with some ideas for the revival of Deus Ex Machina, and have elected to write down a short RP (assuming nobody interupts me). All information subject to change. Anyone that desires to continue the RP is free to do so.. this is a 'rough draft'.


I had become accustomed to the darkness. It was warm, and shrouded me in it's infinate love, unyeilding and yet there was no sensatation of being trapped. I was in Angelique's embrace, I belived. There could be no other explaination.

Now, however, it was yeilding. How long I'd been there, I couldn't say. Only that, there was light now. Light similar to the blinding flash that had come to me as the Enemy's spear pressed against my belly, the light of the next world that had subsided away. Would I be allowed to reach the Second World? Finally, was I given the gift of being able to cross the void, and step with my fellow brothers and sisters into whatever lie there?

There was pain... no, not pain. Something wet, a dripping rain. Smells, a sensation that I had not experianced in what I sensed was a long time. The scent of mud, filling my nostrils, choking me.

How can a dead make choke? He does not require air. He does not require food, or the water which now seemed to be pouring from my unshrouded body. I am cold, and that too does not make any sense.

A pebble presses into my knee and I realize that I am kneeling in the soil. My eyes, no adjusting to the fact that they do indeed exist, catches shadowy figures in the distance. Trees, simple trees, on a storm day. No more unmudane then anything I have experianced in my life.

There lies before me stone rubble, thet sort that had cast the pebble which I now brush away, rubble by it's design I quickly reconize as the ruins of Deus Ex Machina. A mighty fort, mayhaps once.. ruled by many, but of my own initial creation.

"What is this?" I inquire idly to myself. For a moment I panic. Once upon a time I had seen magics that were able to bring the dead to life, cast by such magic users as the False Gods as Leto. Was I victim to such a spell? Was I the unawake yet unsleeping skeleton that would collapse after the battles end?

A horrible speculation. Yet, I could see hands meaty with flesh, untouched, as wet as the rain around it.

I had been reawakened, I was certain. My Goddess had returned me to this land so that I might fight once again in the charge of Angelique.

"No."

The voice startled me, coming as it did from a direction I could not pinpoint, twisting as I did to find the speaker.

"Why do you belive you are summoned from Angelique? Why do you think that such a pitiful creature as yourself would draw the attention of a Goddess?"

This voice, it could not be specified as either male or female. It could not be said to be an adults are a child, and it was unfettered by the sharp wind of the local storm. I bit against my jaw, making a decision to answer it. After all, it was the only link I had to whatever it was that was happening to me.

"Show yourself," I spoke boldly, and backed against the high wall of ruins, so that whatever came could not come unexpected. I had no sword for which to defend myself, after all.

"No." Again, no direction could be had, but it was not the sensation of heading inside one's head.. not exactly. I had experianced that before, and this was not it. It was almost as if the wind was carrying the voice itself, and it swept into my ears at it's own desires.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"Answer the question. Perhaps I'll tell you."

A small stab of hope there, I might be getting somewhere. "Because Angelique is my Goddess, and I fight for her. It makes perfect sense to me that she would revive those who have done her bidding so well."

"So well? Hardly. Certainly, the armies of Deus Ex Machina were victorious in more then one occasion, but what do these invividual battles mean? The war raged on. You accomplished nothing save death, and gained no ground save only temporarily. Even in that the armies that you lead, and whom were lead by others after you, tasted defeat on more then one occasion.

"Also, the bid for peace that you came upon with Leto some years ago?" Continued the voice, "Was the act of a pacifist, not a warrior."

I snorted. "Barnabas came to it's knees as our twin armies ravaged His lands. You can not call that the act of a pacifist."

I sensed a twist of the voice, a sneer that could be heard if not seen. "And yet, He was not defeated. He was not destroyed. He lives, even today, in this changed world of mortals and Gods. What did you accomplish that time? The people of Angelique were soiled with the taste of Leto's so called 'Kindness'. They lost the will to fight the devil himself.. blinded by victories that were hollow."

"We came closest to peace. We had to take the chance," I stammered, the wind turning chill as the mood of the voice changed. He.. she.. It seemed to control the elements around me.

"THAT IS NOT FOR YOU TO DECIDE!" Came the bellow, so loud it was as if a thundercrack. I stumbed back to my knees at the blow, both by wind and by chill.

I queried it, thinking now that I knew why I was here. To be punished for displeasing Her, my perfect goddess. "You.. are.. a servant of Angelique? Her vessel?"

"No. I am who I am.. neither a vessel nor it's master. I have only the power that you sickening mortals give me, and only in your most.. beautiful state. None of you, not even the Gods, truely understand me, yet I am a reflection of yourself in your most powerful, and most terrible aspect."

"A riddle." I was not in the mood for such, unclothed and chilled as I was. "What would you have of me, you beast? What task am I to perform for you, in exchange for my life?"

"Only to resume what you once was. To raise the flag of Angelique again, as you had always desired." It spoke softly now, fading.. as did the wind. The anger of storms was always brief.

"Why?" I could not help to ask, "If you serve no one, then why would you even care?"

"Because of what I am." The voice said finally, and then, the wind died to nothiness. A stillness that was almost as warm and embracing as the bosum of Angelique, for which I had come.

I stood there, knowing not what to make it it all, nor of this... creatures... riddles. Finally, common sense overrode my thoughts. It was cold, I was nude, and as I recalled the nearest town from the Deus Ex Machina fortress was a half day's travel.

I started to walk.

[Luclin]

OOC GW I'll post later after the story has progessed enough for it to let me in. Since your not on ICQ and stuffige gonna point it out here. The old gods are not going to be gods but rather mortlas struggling for power to control the world/continent/whatever. Read the story dustin has in recode if you have not already. Would of told you this over Q but then as I said ur not on and I won't be later. But am glad to see DEM back and you know I'm there with ya.

[GoldWyvern]

OOC: I thank you for pointing that out! However, my character does *not*. He's freshly risen from the dead, and as far as he's concerned, the world was exactly like it was when he died. This... alteration has not yet become apparent.

Go ahead and jump in. Jake has to run into *someone* on the road, right? I'm on ICQ now, by the way I was at work before, as mentioned.