Palace of the Gods (Pantheon), Location & Date Unknown
I stood in front of the large doorway that led into Faust’s chambers, both conflicted and nervous of what I was there for.
The giant hallway that surrounded me was ever silent, any sound made echoing through them. This uncomfortable environment only served to make me even more nervous.
I slowly began to build up my confidence, telling myself that this was completely necessary if I wanted to continue what I already have going with Trajan, and that Faust was just another obstacle that I needed to get rid of.
My free hand reached to the door knocker on the door, ready to reveal my presence and deal with the consequences.
...Until I stopped myself again.
“Fuck me,” I sighed as my free hand settled back to my sides.
Did I really want to do this? Even with all the repercussions of such an action? What if I fail, and I’m the one killed instead? It was these thoughts that kept me from making that final move, that kept me from moving in.
I gave my head a firm shake as something began to sweep over me.
No. I can do this. I came all the way to Faust’s chambers to kill her! Not to grovel about the consequences of such a thing! She recruited me for that purpose. To do action before talk! All that was needed is for me to just do it!
Now with my surge of confidence, my free hand once again moved to knock, but unlike last time, it successfully made contact with the door knocker, and with that, I pounded three knocks that echoed across both directions of the massive Pantheon hallway.
A brief, unrelenting moment of silence followed shortly after, which was broken by the voice that I often dreaded of hearing.
“You may enter.”
Without any further hesitation, I entered Faust’s chambers. Inside, I found myself inside a room I had been inside of countless times before.
It was as large as any throne room was, with an elongated hallway in which led to a staircase that elevated to an extravagant throne.
But that wasn’t all the chambers had. To the walls left and right there were numerous other rooms that were built based upon things that the Gods had enjoyed in their previous mortal lives. For instance, I had taken a liking to the public bath facilities that the Romans constructed in nearly every city which they controlled, and Capua was no exception. I liked these baths so much that whenever Spartacus captured a village or city, I would often scour the streets in an attempt to find one of them.
So, when my own chambers were being constructed, I decided to incorporate my love of these places into it, creating my own extravagant bathing room just for my use alone, despite the fact that there was no need for a God to have a bath.
Like so, all other Gods created these kinds of rooms that focused on a specific thing they liked in their life as a mortal.
Except for Faust, of course.
She, unlike the rest of us, was never born as a mortal and thus didn’t live like one. Due to this, she felt no need to create these kinds of rooms, leaving her chambers to look much like a simple throne room.
Speaking of Faust (and getting back to the subject at hand), she sat on her throne, a bored look on her face, as her magic skimmed through a piles of papers which rested beside her. Each time she looked at a paper, her expression would often harden as her magic disintegrated the object to dust.
During her process of disintegrating another paper, she looked up at whoever had entered her chambers. Upon noticing me, her expression changed from one of irritation to slight surprise. She probably expected me to be in attendance in the council room, where the rest of the Gods currently were.
Her surprise disappeared as quickly as it came however, and she reverted back to her formal demeanor. “Zerstörung,” she declared, “I am surprised you’re here this early.”
“Rest assured, My Lady, there is a reason for that,” I responded, bowing to her respectfully, as all Gods in the Pantheon did to show that they were subservient to her.
Faust raised an eyebrow at me questionably. “Oh? And what would those reasons be?”
Standing up to full height once more, I answered, “That there is something… important… that I believe we should discuss alone with one another.”
Just by saying that sentence, Faust had already gotten wind of what I was here for, and her stare hardened. “So you’re here to discuss your relationship with Trajan, then?”
“That would be correct, My Lady.”
“And have you come to a decision on whether or not it should be terminated?”
“Yes, I have.”
“And that would be…?”
My heart began to pound in my chest. This was it, the point of no return. It was either screw up and die, or pass with flashing colors and take over the mortal realm, as well as be able to interact with Trajan as I so pleased.
The silence in the room increased my nervousness, which wasn’t helped by the fact that Faust was looking down at me with that glare of hers, scrutinizing every inch of my body, watching, waiting for me to do something stupid that would justify her reason to eradicate and replace me.
Building up my courage slowly, I finally answered, “…I have decided to terminate it.”
By my hesitation, and how long it took for me to answer, I assumed Faust would have easily caught my lie, and give me some lecture on how she can never be fooled. But fortunately, as well as to my surprise, the thought of it being a lie seemingly passed right over her head as a content smile formed on her muzzle.
“Excellent,” she complimented, sounding very satisfied. “And here I thought I was going to spend another two thousand years searching for a replacement.” The piles of papers that lay beside Faust all suddenly disappeared from existence as she stepped off of her the one and began to approach me in a calm stride.
Immediately, my body tensed, my hold on my staff becoming tighter. While her approach most likely had no malicious intent, my paranoia made it seem otherwise. This was a trick. A trap to get my guard down so that she could get me first. She knew that I lied, she’s Faust, dammit! The Creator of the Universe! She knew every trick that came with lying, she was no fool!
But I won’t let her trick me. I’m smarter than she gives me credit for. I will not die by her hands! If there was anyone here who mastered deceit, it would be me! Excidia Sicaria Scythica!
“Zerstörung?”
I snapped back to reality to find Faust standing in front of me, a look of… was that concern?
“Are you alright? You’re panting as though you were a mortal who’s ran for five days.”
“I… it’s nothing,” I dismissed, turning away. “I’m just feeling… anxious, is all.”
“Is it about Trajan?” she asked curiously.
I was hesitant. For what reason, I did not know. Was it for Trajan’s safety? Nonsense, Faust already knew about his full involvement in all of this, so what would be the point in lying about that involvement at this point?
“…Yes, it is,” I answered hesitantly.
Faust stared upon me with a concerned look. She then sighed as her head briefly dipped, before it rose, her expression now changed to a caring smile.
“I’ll make it up to you, then,” she declared, stepping much more closer, causing me to hold my staff even tighter.
Now face-to-face with the Creator, she spoke again, “You can continue interacting with Trajan, but under no circumstance will you two be doing anything that one would consider part of a relationship. That way, you two will still be in each-other’s presence, but I won’t have the chance of getting a headache due to an impure offspring. It’s a win-win. So what do you say about that?” She looked at me when she finished, clearly hopeful of an approval.
But I was suspicious, and a little confused. Why was she proposing this? Terra’s been in all kinds of relationships with demigods, all of them ending with the involved demigod being eradicated, and with Terra being hounded for her involvement. How was I somehow unique? Was it because I came to Faust personally, that I was in only one relationship, among other reasons?
It was then that my paranoid side kicked in. What if this was all a trick? What if this plan was some sort of ploy to get my guard down? Faust is the Creator of the Universe, dammit! She knows everything. She’s no fool! If anything, she clearly knows that I’m here to end her existence, and is just toying with me in order to make me look like a complete imbecile! Make me look like a mockery. Make me look like a weak-willed individual. Make me look like a stupid girl.
A deep sense of anger took over me as I repeated those words. Imbecile. Mockery. Weak-willed. stupid.
I despise being insulted in such a way. To be underestimated. All those who had done such a thing paid for it dearly in the end.
Faust will be no exception.
The Creator had been patiently waiting for my answer to her proposal. As I swam through my thoughts, she continued to hold that expression of false optimism, as well as a false smile.
When I exited my thoughts and looked ready to answer, Faust interjected me before I could speak. “So what is it? I am actually quite eager for your answer.”
I took a deep breath, filled to the brim with tension.
“…Lies.”
Faust became confused. “What?” she asked innocently. “What are you-”
She was interrupted as my staff pierced through her heart, and exiting through the back side of her bottom neck.
Faust’s eyes became wide with disbelief in an instant, as she looked down upon the weapon which would end her existence, blood spilling out, eager to get out of the wound. Her eyes then settled back into to me. The look in those eyes would be something I’d never forget, as they told me something that made me berate myself for many years to come.
She clearly didn’t expect me to do that. She wasn’t planning anything heinous. Entirely innocent.
And I killed her in spite of that.
“W…Wh…y…?” Faust asked weakly, before suddenly coughing out large quantities of ichor from her snout, some of which landed on my dress.
I remained silent, instead electing to yank my staff out of her, causing the floor to flood with her golden ichor. Faust fell to the floor with a thud. She moaned in pain as much as her wound would allow her to, desperately clinging onto life.
I watched as her hooves twitched to try and cover the large wound, to delay death as much as possible. But all of that was in vain.
Soon, like any other mortal, Faust faded from life as her body finally became completely limp, her eyes losing their shine and becoming dull and glazed.
As I looked over the corpse, I realized that I couldn’t just leave everything like this. The guards would take easy notice of the wound, and will have an easy time of figuring out who did it.
I couldn’t let that happen.
So I moved on to mutilate her corpse. Slashing, stabbing, amputating body parts. I also added some chains from the dungeons for good effect, so that her death looked like it was caused by torture rather than a sudden strike.
Doing all of these messy things had covered me in Faust’s ichor. To solve this problem, I simply used my staff’s magic to turn the ichor into ash. It might still be stuck into my dress, but having ash on it was far more easier to explain than the presence of ichor.
Now with everything done and over with, I briskly sprinted out of the room, eager to leave this incident behind me.
Once back into the hallway, I slammed the door behind me. Leaning my back onto it, I sighed loudly in disbelief.
I did it. I killed Faust, the Creator of the Universe. I did something which would have untold consequences for the universe she has created, most likely terrible ones.
I gathered myself soon enough, and my face shifted into the hardened look everyone in the Pantheon associated me with.
“Alea iacta est,” I whispered as I began to slowly walk down the hallway, acting as if nothing had ever transpired.
“So that’s how it all happened?” Apophis asked curiously.
“Yes, that is all,” I confirmed. “If you wanted more, then I’m afraid to tell you that expectation is often different from reality.”
“I know that,” Apophis admitted. “But you can’t blame me for expecting more, can you? I mean, when two powerful beings standoff against each other and you know one of them is going to die, you’d expect at least there to be some sort of fight.”
“I don’t blame you for that mentality,” I assured him. “People always see an individual death as some sort of grandiose occurrence, yet deaths of many to be unimportant. One death is a tragedy, many is a statistic.”
“Like ours,” Apophis continued, referring to the other Gods. “Instead of dying a glorious death, we perished and became forgotten in history as nothing but legends and myths.” He gazed through the contents of his chalice, perhaps reminiscing his passing. “So disappointing…” he muttered.
Abruptly, the earth around us began to shake violently. Specks of bright white began to appear everywhere as the birds and the environment started to disappear.
Apophis looked on at what was happening, and smiled at me. “I guess this is where we shall depart, Zer. It was good seeing you again after all these years. So until we meet again…” He waved his free claw slowly as the white began to engulf him. “Tata.”
Before everything was completely gone, and I had awoken from my slumber, my lips twitched upward, creating a small, but rather genuine, smile.
“Valete, vetus amicus.”
The blinding white engulfed me as I finally awakened from my slumber.