Atargatis's Story

Gaia smiled on Sheodin, a glimmer of light bathing him for a flash. On the seas carried a whisper from the Weargtooth Mountains. It spoke of uniting against Eras, the force draining Gaia of her life.

Stormquake was sensed by something deep in Gaia. While she herself could lend no more than a blessing, something else stirred at the ready. It was another hammer- Wyrm of Eruption, a legendary weapon of Gaia, with all the volcanic forces of the planet fueling its fury, among other traits.

It felt the call.
It felt alive.
It felt the need to melt the world beneath it's flat edge and it would forge it's way in accordance.

The hilt of Stormquake started to buzz as the Wyrm channeled itself in molten spirit to come to posess the hammer in the hands of Sheodin. Should Stormquake prove reasonable, or even weak, the hammer's transformation would begin. The Wyrm almost enjoyed Stormquake's hunger as it matched the hammer's own.

With her final blessing felt all across Gaia, the great World Spirit fell into a slumber. Far away, far below the sands of a desert, an suspecting party doesn't realize the true nature of their quest.

High above the workings of foreign experts were eavesdropped upon by the twin dancing stars of Gaia. The World Spirit herself was not concerned, so should they be?

Eras laughed and a great thunder clapped overhead. The sea brewed higher, blackening as the sky reddened more above.

"Gaia would rather destruction than her Spirit feed Eras back to power," Atargatis swept into the Grotto. Periwinkle twinkled on the waters above. Still the Groenbogs were hubub with chaos as Nightfall was realized.
"Those from elsewhere have really opened the door. We need to return the stones-" Atargatis was silenced by a harsh look from Tartatea.

"The stones are a lost cause," Tartarea sighed. He retired to keeping an eye on the shorelines. Gaia herself had fallen into a slumber.

"They aren't," Atargatis calmly finished explaining how the stones had saved them the first time around. The acid lake, true enough, was no longer a challenge. The rooms, though! Still a few stones remained. Sadly the number, unless all, would never be enough to stop Eras.

"We can improve upon it later," Empyrea chimed in with a yawn on her breath. Something was draining her more so than the others, "Welcome to our humble Dance."

The Lifegiver Grotto was all the much more radiant and potent with the giving of life to the Alneh now that a new God had been welcomed.

Stormquake felt the presence of the Wyrm, and the hammer greeted it as a kindred spirit.

The foreign warhammer spoke to the Wyrm and told it of an ancient war that spanned eons and that would be waged for epochs to come. It spoke of four elemental lords, akin to gods, that poured their spirits and will into forging a weapon that would channel the might of an entire world. Wyrm would see a great dragon forged of nuclear fire, an island-sized kraken formed of water and seafoam, an enormous eagle with eyes of lightning and hurricanes beneath its wings, and an ox that trampled mountains - but was an extension of the planet itself. In the center was a single man, a personification of them in one accord, that forged a warhammer using a sliver of each of their souls.

Stormquake, forged from the union of the elements in harmony, danced with a sword of light against a shadow that threatened all of time and space itself - a hunger that would not be sated until every star was smothered and everything that is, was, and could be… was not.

The shadow was pacified for now, but now Stormquake’s bearer and his people needed sanctuary - a sanctuary that was now being threatened.

Stormquake reached out to the Wyrm, and it would drink in the elemental energies of Gaia.

The ocean stirred, awakened by Stormquake’s rallying call. Waves stretched themselves, reaching for the sky and offering its power to the heavens, while the earth beneath the sea buckled and split - spewing its rage through the water and into the air.

Sheodin clenched at the warhammer’s handle as the clouds amassed and darkened with elemental fury. The winds whipped into mighty gales, and Sheodin’s voice thundered across the sea.

”Sufa, v’adamah, v’ash! Shema’im!”

Thunder rolled across Gaia as Eras laughed, but it rolled even harder as Eras roared. More influence, this time a power he couldn't drain. This enraged him almost as much as when Gaia was first created. It made him want to boil the seas and scourge the land.

The light of Eras strengthened as he mightily pulled at the Soja's force of power. It was the closest thing to him. Eras wanted to devour it.

Atargatis, unable to do much more, stifled the flow in favor of the Soja. The stars cared not for the desires and affairs of man.

From down below over on Siv'en a great hand made of mountain pierced the reddening clouds. Despite this, Eras grew even angrier. He pulled at the reigns for power of the ship all the mightier, blocking communicative channels and causing other minor malfunctions as he ripped Atargatis's grip from the Soja and drank.

Down on the planet, the stones would lose focus as targets of Eras. Their draining stopped, still left with some power. Tsunami as well slipped under Eras's radar.

“Captain! We have too much interference in this system!” One of the officers called out from his station. “We’ve got multiple decks reporting errors, and the power draw on the main core is starting to stifle secondary systems, we can barely draw enough energy to run our systems. If this continues it’ll blow the main bus.” One of the Soja’s bridge lieutenants reported, causing Hiroki to grit his teeth.

“We’re going to need to break orbit.” The Captain said to himself.

“Hyperdrive stands ready! But we’re reporting communications errors, We can’t seem to get a message out to the fleet.” Another officer reported.

“Main and auxiliary show clear! Target coordinates locked!”

Hiroki turned to the large screen in front of him. “We’ll come back for you.” He assured himself, red flickers of light catching his attention on a secondary screen. Several decks had began to report power loss.

Small glimmers of light flickered on, and off, all throughout the ship. There was a shrill whir that shuddered throughout the superstructure, the Hyperdrive began to power up.

The great Soja, in the grasp of Eras, was provoked to move away by another God. Eras rumbled, but did not fret. He himself was too far gone in self absorption to recognize, despite any signs, that the forces surrounding Gaia were beginning to band against him. Those sworn to Eras would rather die than acknowledge any other as a savior, accept assistance from foreign entities, admit weakness. Those sworn to Eras knew that they were better guide by him through darkness than left blinded by the devious lights of the heavens-no matter what the lights said they intended.

The hyperspace of the Soja powered up. He noticed something as the winged figure appeared. While he was still tethered to the Soja, he could no longer drain it's power. It was as mortals would put it, like having your boot stuck in the mud. A very tightly laced boot. He was still tethered, however, so Eras moved to give his attention to King Neodin Shadowslayer, for a moment giving rest to his focus of draining power from the Soja.

What Eras didn't notice was another figure, made of starlight, forming next to Mikhael. Atargatis joined his celestial power with Mikhaels, aiding in the push of the Soja. He remained silent, caring little for who and what the children of the realms chose to give power to. Atargatis would be a star until the day his dance with Sagittae ended. Hopefully not at the hands of Eras.

The nebula of light, however, stretching out between he and Gaia, made it a little harder for Eras to strengthen his grip. This new God was strong- loved by their people and already embraced by Sagittae and Atargatis. This furied Eras even further. The great hand of the colossus below shifted in it's reach. Now it extend towards King Neodin. Up, up, up through the atmosphere the great hand of Ni'Thorne extended, casting a great shadow across the Exalted Mountains and the great valley at it's feet. The Kingdom of Skyfall was plunged into a strange twilight. Despite all working against him Eras had cause to smile. Gaia had fallen into a deep slumber.

The rains came to a sudden cease. Across the entire continent of Siv'en the beating of the water slowed. Though the sky was still pink, there was even more light in it now, and it was a hair less ominous to those paying close enough attention to that sort of thing. In Ellaria a Champion called out across the lands. Eras, far too distracted above the brightened sky, took no notice to the Children of Gaia awakening in her honor. He was impatient as Ni'Thorne moved too slow, shifting his attention to Asvith Thrym. Eras called out to the great creature, urging him to make a grab for the Soja, as it was much closer to Asvith than most others.

A chill crept up Smaragdos's spine as the rains ceased and the trees cried out. There was a great rumbling, the sound of branches snapping and something moving aggressively through the wood. Those he came to visit-their presence had grown dim as whatever it was surged towards this part of the forest.

The great emerald dragon spread out his wings and took off again. As he did, a glimmer of light spread across the planet, coming from somewhere in the heart of the Whispering Woods. Gaia reached out for those who would save her children from Eras, a call heard by the elder dragons Smaragdos and Zervi, along with Joragon and all the other dragon-kin of the forest.

The Dragons of Gaia, wherever they rest across the planet Gaia, were called. Most being descent from the original Wyrms the Dragons of Gaia were struck with the memory of the cause of their ancestors - some of them participated in the stifling of Eras all those ages ago. A violet light swam in the back of Smaragdos's mind- Atargatis too was awake and interacting with Gaia. He, too, seemed to realize his protections didn't stand the tests of time.

On that note Smaragdos aimed for the Crystal Tower.

The Wyrm of Eruption let it's powers flow through Stormquake, but not without a cost. As Stormquake drew the power from the Wyrm, the Wyrm convened with the slivers of spirit giving power to Stormquake.

It showed Stormquake two dancing celestial bodies, a looming third, a birthed fourth- and then the fourth come to be ravaged by the largest first. Seven elemental Colossi were raised to wreak havoc - when the great Star Dragons appeared. Seven stones for seven Colossi, the visions ended with a gleaming tower rising from a purple lake.

In Sheodin's grip the hammer rippled. Stones pushed their way through the hilt, cutting in to Sheodin's hands. Lines began to glow across the hammer, forming strange symbols.

"Hyperdrive stands ready!" The Bridge officer called out.

"Sir! I'm getting increased readouts across the board! Something's pushing us away!" Another officer called out.

Hiroki breathed a sigh of relief.

The shrill whine of the hyperdrive continued to fill the superstructure of the Soja, and in sheer defiance of Eras, Hiroki called out.

"Execute Hyperspace jump!"



Lines filled the display screens of the Soja, and Hiroki braced himself. The ship lurched forward with all it's might, and in an instant, it wrenched itself free from Eras' grasp.

Sheodin growled and bared his teeth as the foreign magic flowed through Stormquake. The stones cut into his palm, and blood trickled down his wrist. He felt a strange presence within his weapon, but Sheodin was forced to ignore it.

The storm had grown to epic proportions. Dozens of gigantic tornadoes, formed of frothing seawater, danced across the waves while lightning bolts spiderwebbed through the canopy of spiraling clouds. A hurricane stirred the heavens and blotted out the sky, and Sheodin stood in the center of the eye. However, while he was once on a small island - it was now a mountain. Walls of water, a whirlpool, surrounded him, as the ocean had peeled back the waves to reveal the naked island.

Sheodin cried to the heavens, pouring the magic and authority of his voice into the sky and sea. Mighty gales carried his words of power across the turbulent waves and the thunder echoed his roars. Sleet, hail, and rain. Thunder, lightning, and ruin. The world raged.

Stormquake was pointed at the hurricane’s eye - the focal point of the cataclysmic storm. Woe to those who were caught in its grasp, but Sheodin could not heed the ant when the lion was warring with the mammoth.

He dug his heels into the earth and the ground trembled. Sheodin clenched his fists, and the island-turned-mountain cracked. The mighty archmage heaved, and the land yielded to his power.

The mountain rose into the air like a giant aroused from its slumber. Its base was alight in volcanic fire, and ash was poured into the maelstrom.

Sweat poured down Sheodin’s brow. He breathed raggedly as the raw arcane energies flowed through him like a flood, but he stood firm.

A world rested upon his shoulders, and so the mountains would be his strength.

Punching through the clouds and towards the skies beyond, a great fist ascending from Ellaria. The clouds puffed out as they were breached by Asvith giving those above a glimpse of what was happening below.

A cold bay was alight with activity. Bloodstained snow and many people moved like ants below. In the mountains there were other movements and a few great beasts.

The great fist of Asvith Thrymm was just a moment too late. As it reached the place where the Soja was, suddenly the Soja was no longer there.

Leolik nodded to the two spirits. “Eras’s hubris is great, and he has hardened his heart to almost the point of no return. My prophet conveys my warnings to him as we speak, but he will not heed my voice. Though I protect Gaia from his fury with my outstretched hand, and my champions stand against his titans, I will only stand against his authority for so long.

“If the stones will not be retrieved, then a plan of redemption for Gaia must be written into the Weave - a plan that will release her from Eras’s yoke.”

"The champions have been called," Atargatis continued as if he had no ears, when he knew the fate of Gaia truly rest in the hand of her children, and the Champions. Tartarea grew dark and disappeared. With him the twilight glimmer faded. Empyrea frowned after him, then after a moment her astral eyes grew wide as the moon. She too grew dark and disappeared back to her waters.

When Atargatis spoke of Champions, he was not just speaking of those native to Gaia. When Gaia, the planet, sent out her call, he felt it brisk by his spacial mass. Atargatis had no doubt the call would reach those from other realms - just as he remembered a different type of call reached other realms not so long ago.

Atargatis pondered on this, before finally speaking up again to Leolik.

"Redemption, is for the guilty. Of what guilt should Gaia be redeemed?"

Leolik smiled upon Atargatis. “Redemption can be offered to all who serve under the yoke of Death - either redemption from transgression by forgiveness and repentance, or redemption from a cruel master to a loving one.

“By cosmic law, as written from the dawn of creation, a daughter lives under the authority and protection of her father until the day she leaves his house and joins with her husband. In this sense, she is redeemed from her father and into the embrace of the bridegroom - who takes on the role of protector and provider to his new bride. The father no longer holds sway over the daughter, having relinquished his authority to the bridegroom in exchange for a bride price.

“Tell me, Atargatis.” Leolik looked from the celestial spirit to the grotto’s pool, “Can Eras be convinced to release his control over Gaia? Is he willing to bargain?”

The World Spirit of Gaia called out to the forces of favor in her newly awakened state. Though she was still weak, her allies were not. Sagittae and Atargatis, too, felt the appearance of the large vessel. There was no time for argument between the celestial beings as to the intentions of the great craft.

It was far simpler to ask.

Before anyone would move another muscle, as the word "Initialize" died on the lips of Gina, a blue light appeared on the hologram of Gaia. It flashed once, obscuring the hologram, and instead presenting the vague form of what might have been a man. The lights in the vessel seemed to dim, time seemed to move differently. Slower.



Far below the World Spirit of Gaia called to the spirits of the seas, who lent their energies to the greater magical barriers of Gaia protecting the planet from technological and electronical advancements and influences. In doing so they, too, were weakened. Across Gaia the seas grew less stable. In some places they stormed. In others, they grew flat.

Below the dusts of ages settled around the newly risen Mount Thrym. Luck would have it that the thick vegetation and undulating lands would protect many from the outward blast caused by the impact of the fallen Thrym. However, none would fail to note the stench. It was stronger in some places, and in others it seemed to be the lingering of a nightmare.

Gina narrowed her eyes at the hologram, as the lights dimmed, she reached for the disruptor pistol holstered at her side.

"EVE, I want full diagnostics on the communication systems, and by the gods get that frakking Antimana shield up!" The Chairman barked as she focused her attention on the vague shape before her.

"Is it suffering or salvation you seek to grant upon the Children of Gaia?"

Gina considered her response briefly, she didn't want to get embroiled in a war, but it seemed she was offered little choice.

"Your children of Gaia attacked our allies, I have been sent to make them answer for this."

EVE began to run diagnostics, checking the ship's systems for anomalies.

Tactical began to calibrate the ship's weapons, ascertaining targeting parameters, focusing his attention on the Colossi roaming the planet, while also highlighting the Iskjerne Bay region. He began to run diagnostics on weapon systems.

Atargatis continued to obscure the maps of Gaia, slipping his celestial self into the mainframe and obscuring every read of the planet below. He cared not for political reason. It's not that he had an opinion. Alliances and affairs of mortals really were of no care or concern to Atargatis and most celestial bodies - unless, of course, they interfered with aspects of existence. Those who seek to harm the Children of Gaia, no matter the cause, align themselves against Gaia and with Eras. The empowering of Eras was in no was to be facilitated, and thus any enemies of Gaia must be stopped.

Time continued to slow surrounding the ship. The occupants might not have noticed, but they were moving significantly slower than anything else in this part of space.



It seemed the people here had no true quarrel with the Children of Gaia. It didn't take the celestial being more than a moment to assemble the pieces. It seemed this was all birth from a miscommunication far below. A miscommunication spanning two generations, and escalating wildly out of control. A miscommunication that, if these people were allowed to progress as they willed, would result in the death of at least one Champion of Gaia. A death of a Champion was, again, an act against Gaia- an act of empowerment towards Eras. All because of a miscommunication; a culture gap, so to speak. Such a petty mortal thing.

"Chairman, I'm having issues with the subspace data-link, there's temporal interference indicated by a bit-stream data-lag." Captain Elson, the Communications officer reported.

Lieutenant Dajic shook his head. "I'm not getting good reads on these maps, too much interference."

A third officer called out. "Antimana calibration complete, I'm integrating them into shields now, it should isolate any magical interference." His hands swiftly moved across the keyboard of his console, and the shields of the Aschen vessel shifted into a dazzling magenta color, swirling with energetic eddies, and exotic particles that interacted adversely with the magical energies surrounding the ship, consuming them, and rending them asunder. The aim was to shield the ship entirely from magical influence, bathing it in a cocoon of antimana charged by the Aschen people's very collective hatred of magic itself.

"The frak did the Taiyou get themselves into." Inviere mumbled to herself.

"Without solid reads, we can't engage without risk of collateral." Elson responded.

"Chairman." Lieutenant Eris called out. "We need to divert power to the chronosphere to compensate for this time dilation." Inviere nodded. "Do it."

Time itself began to warp, and bend was energy was shunted from one portion of the cruiser, to the next, time would stabilize around the Reverence, compensating for the temporal influences.

Inviere narrowed her eyes at the figure before her.

"Taiyou nobility is not yours to imprison." Inviere retorted.

"I'm authorizing the use of God-splitter, all hands, prepare for Singularity deployment!" Inviere called out.

The vague form of Atargatis dissipated to display a reading of Iskjerne Bay. Despite the machine's attempts, time continued it's slow-ward motion. Atargatis was not magic. Atargatic was much, much higher than magic. The map reading of Iskjerne Bay showed a strange sight. It wasn't of physical readings, but a map of connections and intentions. Most of the lines were white, or bluish- there was no harm intended between most people residing in Iskjerne Bay. There was a small knot of red lines, with one or two golden ones in the tangle. The knots seemed to be central around two men.

Inviere's expression was dark, the implications of this place were much more in her analytical mind, whatever this entity was that protected this world, and it's people.

The thought sickened the Chairman.

The thoughts of the Empire, securing it's own existence through the blood, and the sweat of it's own people, it's technological innovation, and the unceasing vigilance of it's military.

And the thought of this pathetic world, under the protection of some kind of higher being. Some kind of malevolant kakodaímōn

Inviere snarled at the thought.

"Release my ship, demon. I will leave this world in peace, I will report your actions here to my superiors, and to the government of the Taiyou, so they may consider them in their own next course of action." The Aschen chairman almost pleaded. There was no telling how much time was passing outside, the datalink's own quantum waveform was stretched thin.

In her mind, Inviere prayed to Hestia to intercede against whatever this dark entity was that protected this forsaken place.

The reading of Iskjerne Bay collapsed in on itself, for a moment turning grey and showing the horrors of Nightfall. Corpses reached from the crumbling ground as the skies fell down as fire. The vague form of Atargatis appeared again. Leaving this world seemed an agreeable idea. He had no opinion on the reporting of his actions - Atargatis answered not to any superior of this Mortal.

A prayer drifted from the Mortal to the realms above. Atargatis watched it go without concern. Another celestial entity, another God or World Spirit, wasn't of jurisdiction here. This was Gaia, who like few other planets was alive in her own right.

Meanwhile, Eras had taken note to the newcomers and grew angry when he realized Atargatis was foiling their interference, and thus any advantage he would gain at their hand. He swore as he watched, not acting yet, as he was reserving himself for his next strike. Eras had awakened, and Nightfall had begun, but he wasn't strong enough to darken the realm just yet he had realized. Perhaps he could influence this ship. Should he try?


Atargatis's form faded from the display. Eras cursed as Gaia turned her attention to the vessel in blessing. That was enough to deter him. She was awake, but weak. They both were- neither could risk it.

Inviere scowled and turned to her Tactical officer.

"Spool the FTL and get us out of here. Have my report ready to be tendered to the ministry of defense. I want this entire star system isolated, and quarantined. There's daemonic activity going on here, and we must not let it spread."

The mammoth engines of the Reverence II hummed to life. Brilliant flames of plasma jutted out from the rear of the vessel as she lurched forward.

"We will be watching this place very closely." Inviere said cooly, she knew the Taiyou fleet's arrival was inevitable, they could contend with this daemon.


"FTL Drives are spooling, they'll be ready to jump in two millicentons." Captain Elson reported.

King Neodin floated in the void. Time had become meaningless to him as he stood between Eras and Gaia, bathed in Leolik’s Everlasting Flame. He neither ate nor drank, but he only sustained himself from the divine spirit of his god as he offered his prayers up on behalf of Gaia and her children.

The nebula of divine flame bloomed like the wings of a great phoenix, shielding Gaia from the brunt of Eras’s influence. To those on the planet’s surface, it would appear as a great aurora that spread across the heavens. Neodin’s blade sat at the center of the inferno, stoic and unrelenting as Time itself.

“So speaks Ha’Ari,” Neodin began to prophesy, filled with the Flame, “The heavens shall darken and the skies will weep. The earth will boil and the oceans will turn to ash. Stars shall wither; and all that was, is, and could have been will come to an end. Such shall be the Eternal Night - the Great Unweaving - as the Last Creation shall be undone.

“But the song shall begin anew! There will come one of whom I am unfit to wash the dust from His feet. He shall carry the blood of a divine king, and His spirit shall be white as snow - one with the Everlasting Flame! The mountains will tremble at His name, and the great cedars shall bow at His passing! The Children of Gaia shall lift Him up, and His outcry will shake the foundations of the world!

“It will be through Him that Gaia shall be redeemed and Eras will be forever silenced, for whoever will follow Him shall be reborn by fire and water - and those who deny Him will be consumed by the Eternal Night. May heaven and earth stand as witnesses and wait upon Him, He who carries the name of Ha’Ari!”

Despite the Aschen misunderstanding, there was not demonic activity going on in the star system. A divine tragedy was playing out, and they just so happened to enter stage right as the first act of many was reaching it's conclusion.

Atargatis kept an eye on the vessel as it departed, keeping watch for interference from Eras.