Chapter 4.29: A Fear of Heroes

The mysterious god dissolves in the same smoke that fills the room, but it is dark no longer. It’s a deep green and between the hundreds of shining little stars the five companions can see each other once again for a short time. The mist starts swirling around Dargothoth, moving faster and faster, until he is completely hidden from the others. Then all stars die out. Darkness returns. The smoke disappears.
“It is done.”
The voice of the unknown god echoes a final time between these walls before fading away.
And now there Dargothoth stands. A cleric devoted to a new god, a frightful deity of a demonic plane, probably one more menacing than Nerull would ever be. It was powerful and impressive enough to make Daemion, a priest of the Father of Fear, faint.
“Dargothoth?” Mero sounds hesitant. “Are you okay?”
The cleric turns to the sorcerer. A revitalized glow shines in his eyes and a sincere smile reveals his ferocious teeth.
“I’m feeling more than okay, shiny metal puppet. I feel amazing.”
And then they see something they haven’t seen before, something that’s maybe more terrifying than anything he did before. He laughs, howls almost, and flips his head backwards with utter content.
Bruq’s and Oslando’s eyes meet and both seem equally surprised as uneased.
“I’m going to wake up the priest”, Dargothoth says, still chuckling. “I have some questions.”

“And that’s happened.”
Dargothoth concludes his summarized, rather manic sounding story about meeting a god other than Gor-Thar. Daemion didn’t say a word while the cleric was speaking. When he finishes talking, the souldrinker looks at what kind of blessing the sivak received. He gasps and takes a step backwards, startled.
“You are blessed by the Faceless God”, he says, almost whispering. “In a guldûn devoted to the Father of Fear! This hasn’t happened before. It’s unheard of.... I have no words.”
Daemion stops looking at the blessing. A featureless face with dark green contours floating in front of his own, it couldn’t be a more literal boon than the god’s name suggests.
“What kind of Parent is he?”
Dargothoth sounds thrilled. His entire body language has changed into a more lively one.
“Well… He isn’t a Parent, actually.” The devyryl stammers, still confused and aghast. “Baltor and Vexys had eight children. Akaleth, their first, was stillborn, because the powers swirling inside him were too unstable. To make sure their second child wouldn’t share the same faith, they granted him more divine power to contain and adapt to the powers of being a Parent. They soon discovered that they gave him too many powers to contain in one body. After that, they got their six other children, granting everyone only one of the many domains Baltor and Vexys possessed. First came the twins Neg’Crûn and Gor-Thar, as mentioned before, the Father of Death and Father of Fear. Then came their first daughter, Metrona, Mother of Creation, imbuing her with the power to help their family expand without Baltor and Vexys giving up their powers. Then came Mahaeleax, Father of Magic, Ur-Gha-Belesh, Father of War, and lastly came La’ava Sheran, Mother of Sins. The two first Parents told their children to create their own families, but the Faceless God thought too highly of himself and wanted to created his own spawns with his divine powers. Baltor and Vexys forbade him to do so and so the Faceless God rebelled against them. All other Parents joined the fight and punished him, stripping away his face and locking him up far beneath the earth of Abaddon, imprisoning him for eternity. Apparently though, it seems like his influences aren’t as locked away as they thought they would be.”
Daemion shakes his head. He realizes he hasn’t answered his question yet, but everything is just so overwhelming. He rubs the palm of his hand over his new mark, quickly checking his own aura to see if he still has the blessing of Gor-Thar. He does.
“We call him God instead of Parent, because he doesn’t have any children. He has no domain anymore, but technically, he should have all of them if Baltor and Vexys intended him to be the next to rule over the other Parents. You have sided with a dangerous god, Dargothoth. I hope you know what you got yourself into.”