The Age of Chaos Ch. 22 (Original Fantasy)

A/N: Aureo POV!

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How long? How long had he, a god, been in this place, the captive of a bunch of damn mortals? Truthfully, Aureo didn’t know. Sometimes it felt like an eternity had passed. It was impossible to keep track of time down here. His captors weren’t even kind enough to keep their tortures and torments to a set schedule.

All those months ago, when the first signs of something brewing had come… he’d been so cavalier about it. Carefree was another word for how he’d acted. After all, he was Aureo, Minor God of the River, Patron God of Goldriver, and a Lord of the City to boot. He was on top of the world… to fall this far, to suffer this much had seemed unthinkable back then.

The problems had started in the Temple District, where the temples to Heavenly Deities had reported nothing but silence. Even the King of the Gods, Law himself, was said to have stopped speaking to his followers. That was strange, admittedly, but Aureo hadn’t thought much of it. The Gods of the Heavens were of the Heavens and the Gods of the Mortal Planes were of the Mortal Planes. They didn’t really have much in the way of contact.

… But then rumors started reaching Goldriver of a strange new group of mortals supposedly doing the impossible. Supposedly, these ‘God Hunters’ were hunting down anything and everything with divine blood. That early on, the rumors hadn’t been entirely clear on why or what they were doing. Some said the God Hunters were out to slaughter anyone with divinity coursing through their veins. Some said they just wanted to control the divine; to capture those with power so they could take that power for themselves.

Personally, after everything Aureo had witnessed, it seemed likely to be a mixture of everything. The runes that even now restricted his divinity were not of mortal make, after all. The God Hunters had gotten them from somewhere, perhaps tortured out of another god or goddess.

Of course, the God Hunters themselves had their own proclamations that soon spread far and wide. None were to continue worshipping the divine on pain of death. And, according to them, they weren’t playing around… their strongest warrior, the so-called ‘God Killer’ had already slew the entirety of the Heavens singlehandedly.

It seemed laughable. Aureo had said as much when he and his divine neighbors had met up outside of the city all those months ago, after the nonsense had begun. He couldn’t remember who called the meeting truth be told. It wasn’t him… maybe it had been Bormus? He recalled thinking at one point that that old Forest God was a bit of a worrywart.

Of course, in the end Aureo was forced to acknowledge that Bormus and the other worriers had been right. And he… he’d been wrong. So very, very wrong. That day, Aureo had leaned on his wealth, his power, and his influence. The others wanted to take action, wanted to come up with some precautions. But Aureo hadn’t thought the threat that serious. So what if these God Hunters were making a mess of things elsewhere? It wasn’t like they would find a foothold in these lands. Certainly not in Goldriver.

The people of Goldriver loved him… or so he’d believed. Back when the first mortal settlers had arrived generations previous, Aureo had briefly considered whether he wanted to encourage them settling on his river or not. Some of his peers had warned him not to, some had told him it would be perfectly fine. In the end, he’d listened to the ones who told him to be cautious and lay down the law, so to speak.

Early on, he’d set himself up as a benefactor of sorts to the early mortal settlers by helping them find gold in his river. Along with a constant bounty of fish and the freshest damn water in the region, it hadn’t taken long at all for a village to sprout up. And from there, with the gold and fish flowing, the village had become a town and the town had become a city.

All the while, Aureo had been hand in hand with the mortal leadership. He frequently talked with the headsman when Goldriver was just a village, he had dinner every week with the mayor when it became a town, and finally he joined the nobility as a Lord in his own right when Goldriver finally became a full blown city. He’d been there every step of the way.

Was it so strange then that he thought his position untouchable? Was it so odd that he considered his mortal allies above reproach? When the others at their little divine meeting had expressed their concerns, Aureo had brushed them all off and thrown his weight around a little to make them all feel foolish and small. He’d told them that these God Hunters didn’t concern them because they would never reach this area anyways. That they were a flash in the pan and would die out soon enough without them having to do anything about it.

Aureo had left that meeting feeling quite proud of himself for calming down his fellow gods and goddesses. He’d returned to Goldriver then for a scheduled meeting with the City leadership to talk to THEM about the God Hunters as well.

That was where he’d been ambushed and captured. Because even as Aureo had been telling his peers not to worry about the God Hunters… they were already there in Goldriver. Waiting for him. His mortal allies, people he had thought of as friends, had betrayed him. And for what? Coin, of course. Pure greed.

The city’s nobility had decided they knew which way the wind was turning. With the Gods of the Heavens silenced, the Temple District was no longer pulling in nearly as much revenue as they used to, and that meant less money for the city as well. It had also been a long time since he’d made gold show up in the river, since the city was sustainable and they didn’t really need a constant flow of the shiny rock anymore.

Put bluntly, the God Hunters gave city leadership a better deal. And Aureo didn’t even get a chance to outbid them before he found himself in chains and being tortured. Pain… pain hadn’t been something that Aureo was familiar with until this experience. Early on, he’d given up too many names, too many locations, all to make the pain stop for just a little while.

It wasn’t until his peers had wound up in the catacombs alongside him that Aureo had realized the true gravity of what he’d done. Of how badly he’d failed all of them. Listening to their screams, their pleas for mercy, their death cries… it had broken something in Aureo. At the same time, it had hardened him.

At a certain point, he’d stopped giving his captors what they wanted and started spitting in their faces. Literally in fact, whenever he got the chance. He’d wanted to die at that point. He’d welcomed the thought of finally provoking them into killing him. But they refused. Even as the torture got worse, even as they took his right eye and then his left ear, even as they’d cut some of his fingers and toes off, they didn’t go so far as to kill him. Hell, they’d even removed a foot at one point before searing the wound shut so he wouldn’t bleed out. No matter what abuse he threw at them, no matter how many of their questions he refused to answer, they refused to let him die.

Heh, the last time they’d gone at him, they’d talked about just removing his tongue so he couldn’t talk anymore. But one of his torturers had reminded the other that such a decision would require the Commander’s permission first so nothing had come of it. Still, Aureo figured it would be any day now. Even as the catacombs had fallen into silence, most of his kin already dead in their cells, he had figured they would still come back for him. After all, they may have wanted him alive for some sick reason, but he didn’t need his tongue to continue breathing, now did he?

That’s why… when he hears someone approaching, Aureo prepares himself for the worst. Even as he feels something strange brushing against his senses, he tenses up. Until finally, the sound of footsteps stops right in front of his cell. And after a moment…

“Aureo? Aureo, can you hear me?”

Aureo huffs out a laugh and sneers. Talking is difficult these days, but he forces the words out all the same, bit by bit.

“I’ve told you… enough times… it’s ‘Lord Aureo’ to you… scumfucks.”

Silence falls and Aureo waits for the jingling of keys and the opening of his cell door. Not because he has some way of escaping… he doesn’t. But rather because then he’ll know to prepare for the attack that’s sure to come for his impertinence. Except it never does. Even as his crass words hang in the air, there’s no keys, no door opening. Instead…

“We’re not God Hunters, Lord Aureo. I… I am Lady Sophia, Minor Goddess of Wisdom and Equity, daughter of Law, the King of the Gods.”

… What? Aureo slowly blinks his one remaining eye. What was this? This was poorly conceived even for the God Hunters. After he’d first started clamming up, they’d tried different tactics besides pure torture to get him talking again. Things like bringing his friends before him and having THEM beg him to speak. It had even worked once or twice before he finally realized none of them were ever getting out of here.

Still, this was just silly. Chuckling tiredly, Aureo shakes his head side to side, his words slurring a bit as he speaks.

“Not… a very good lie… everyone knows… the Heavens were slaughtered…”

He might not have believed it back then before he found himself here, but he sure as hell believed it now. If Law and his ilk were still up there, then they would have put a stop to the God Hunters by now. While he didn’t know if he believed that shit about a single ‘God Killer’ doing the deed, it was obvious that the Heavens had been dealt with some way or another.

“That… is true, yes. The Heavens were slaughtered almost to the last. I am the sole survivor, Lord Aureo. I ran. I hid… and for now at least, I still live. We’re here to rescue you. We’re going to get you out of here.”

Hm… maybe he was hallucinating. This seemed too ridiculous even for the God Hunters, but for his fevered, laboring mind? It was certainly possible that he’d conjured up something as nice as this. But then, what was one supposed to do when one’s own mind began betraying them? In the end, Aureo chooses to stay silent. Better that then giving in to madness.

“… Oren, I think I see the problem. We’ve destroyed all of the runes out here, but they put even more runes on the inside of his cell. Deal with them please.”

“As you wish, Goddess.”

Aureo’s one eye blinks as he sees the faint shimmer of Celestial Metal in the darkness. It cuts through the bars of his cell like butter and a man steps in through the hole he’s just created holding a dagger. He doesn’t even look to Aureo, instead moving to the walls and striking through each of the divine suppression runes drawn there.

A shudder runs through the Minor God of the River as he sucks in a deeper breath than intended through half-ruined lungs. Coughing and choking on his own dried blood, Aureo nevertheless feels… good. Or at least, he feels better than he has in all the time he’s been in this cell.

The runes blocking him from his power have been taken care of and suddenly it’s like he can see again. He feels the connection to his river growing by the second and can even feel the river itself reaching for him like it missed him.

“Lord Aureo. How are you feeling?”

Pulled back to the present, Aureo looks up to see the woman has stepped into the cell as well. She looks… beautiful. He knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that she IS a goddess. Even still, maybe this is all part of the hallucination. Testing the waters, he jingles his chains a bit.

“I’d feel better… if I wasn’t shackled… to the wall, I suppose.”

Sophia, as she’d named herself, nods to her male companion. Oren? He steps forward and uses the Celestial Dagger on Aureo’s chains, freeing him from the wall. As his arms drop rather limply to his sides, the River God decides this at least isn’t a ploy from his captors. Sure, they might free him, but they would never destroy his shackles or the runes on the walls in the process.

Could… could still be a hallucination though, right? Except the goddess, Sophia, comes up to him and places a hand on his face and… and Aureo has never felt such warmth. Divine power flows from her into him and he lets out a gasp as he feels some of his much diminished strength returning.

“We’ll get you out of the city, don’t worry. Do you think you can stand?”

Doubtful. Aureo doesn’t trust himself to speak though, still torn between whether this is real or not. Frowning a little at his silence, Sophia looks to her male companion. However, before she can say anything, Oren speaks first.

“They’re finally moving.”

Aureo strains himself looking up too, to see the man standing there with his head cocked to the side and his eyes staring up through the ceiling of the catacombs.

“The City Guard is mobilizing to investigate the district, Goddess.”

The City Guard? Why would they be investigating? Aureo blinks in confusion, even as Sophia frowns harder.

“I see. Well, with all of the God Hunters dead, we shouldn’t have to worry about risking divine movement anymore. I’ll just bring us all outside of the city and they’ll find nothing but the bodies.”

All of the God Hunters dead? Aureo’s not sure even a hallucination would be this ridiculous. And that means… that means there’s a chance all of this is real. If all of this is real, then…

“Wa… Wait…”

The beautiful goddess hesitates, having been reaching for both him and Oren. Wetting his lips, Aureo shakes his head.

“Don’t… take us out of the city. Take us… to the sewers. I have a place… under the city. Hidden… away. I can… heal fully there.”

Heh, the way Sophia’s nose wrinkles at the prospect of sewers is kind of cute. Yeah, this is all way too nice to be an actual hallucination. And even if it is… Aureo decides he doesn’t care. He’ll go ahead and buy into it for now. Fuck, if it turns out to be real, then he might just get his revenge after all…

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A/N: I'm sure that last bit is fine, we're all about revenge up in this bitch.

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