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The Story So Far...
For countless ages since before the birth of creation the Gods of Light have fought the Gods of Darkness with the Gods of Neutrality in the middle, holding the Balance between the two forces to ensure the survival of reality and the mortal races.

But in recent millennia the nature of the war has begun to shift, the two principle Gods Paldine (God of Absolute Good) and Takhisis (Goddess of Absolute Evil) destroyed each other in a deadly contest of wills and now the two thrones where these Gods once ruled are now open for any deity with enough strength to take. The only original ruling deity is Gilean (God of Absolute Neutrality) who is just barely able to hold the balance between Good and Evil... But that delicate balance is beginning to slip as the Gods take to their new battlefield... The planet Earth.

The Bronze Tower: The Home of Morgion

Morgion, the God of Decay sat in a simple chair on a balcony that existed only by the whim of the deity and looked upon what lay beyond the edge of reality itself. For you see, Morgion dwelt within the Bronze Tower, a dark and evil place at the edge of reality itself, a place accessible only to the Gods themselves, but not many among the Gods came willingly to the Bronze Tower except at great need for Morgion was a solitary personality and did not like to be bothered and often made the offending deity pay dearly for disturbing him.

But as Morgion looked upon the twisted chaos that lay beyond the forced Order of reality the deity mused quietly about the strange calm that had entered Heaven, the kind of calm that only occurs before a huge storm strikes to unleash chaos and misery upon those affected by it.

"Except this time it is the God themselves who will have to endure this storm." Morgion said to himself with a trace of pleasure at the thought of his fellow Gods having to fight tooth and nail just to retain their places in Heaven, but then the pleasure vanished as Morgion was reminded that he too would have to join in that storm or loose everything that he currently had.

Morgion was of course not just spending all of his time sitting around the Bronze Tower doing nothing, he had his mortal agents and his priests on various worlds working to spread both his religion and his will across entire races of people. But the main battlefield would be on the planet Earth and that is where Morgion (and most likely the other Gods) would focus their main attention.

Morgion then turned his attention away from the edge of reality and allowed his mind to streach from the Bronze Tower towards the little blue sphere that was Earth.

"Enough idle thoughts, time to kickstart my plan." the God of Decay thought to himself as he left the Bronze Tower to speak to his Priests in person.

Above Earth

Morgion, God of Decay and Lord of the Bronze Tower hovered above the atmosphere of the planet Earth without bothering to wear any particular form (after all he was a God and a God could be anything or nothing at whim) watching with intense interest at the developments of his plan.

His Priests were already at work in key places in the poorest (and most populated) place in the world, Southeast Asia. A strange "Super-Flu" had been spreading across the population in this region of the world, oddly enough this disease attacked and killed in a matter of hours anyone who was a priest or priestess of any religion of Earth origin, not to mention anyone who tried to treat the priests for this illness. In the space of a few days the local populations were forced to witness the deaths of almost all their religious leaders and the utter failure of the overworked, underfunded, and understaffed medical teams that had come from around the world to meet this Super-Flu head on.

Then worse came as ordinary citizens by the thousands became sick with the Super-Flu. In the space of a day several hundred children and seniors were already dead with thousands more expected to die in a couple days time.

Morgion then took a corpeal form long enough for a smile to appear on his face as his priests began the next stage of the plan.

A medical tent, Quarantine Zone, Thailand

Tzu Hzi, a fourteen year old girl who had been sold into sexual slavery at the age of 8 was dying. She had contracted this weird new disease just a day before and (unlike HIV she had contracted from her "work) had been unable to hide the fact she was ill. So her pimp had thrown her out and left her to die on the streets where by sheer luck a medical team from France had found her and taken her to the Quarantine Zone. But there was nothing they could do for her so she lay dying... But not quiet alone.

A strange man with a hidden face wearing black robes covered in unspeakable filth and giving off a smell that even Tzu Hzi in her state of near mental collapse found horrid was in the room with her. Tzu didn't know where he came from or why he was here but she lacked the strenght to eat much less speak to him.

But she didn't have to for he began speaking first, his voice was as dark and as degraded as his robes. "You are dying little one, you have been dying for years and even if you survive the Super-Flu you will not survive much longer than a decade with the HIV virus you contracted unless..."

Tzu then thought to herself, "Unless.... what?"

The man answered her thoughts, "Unless you pray."

Tzu then thought, "Pray to whom? No god would accept the prayers of a whore."

The man answered, "Mine will, swear your soul to him and you will know no more sickness but shall instead make others suffer as you have suffered in this short and twisted thing you call your life."

Tzu then croaked out of a throat that was as dry as the desert sands, "Who is your God?"

The man then answered, "Morgion"

The girl then turned inward and began to pray to a God she had never heard of, "Morgion, god of the filthy man before me, if you are real then I swear my and soul and eternal loyalty to you. Just free me from my pain."

Then strange man then lowered his hood to reveal a face once beautiful, but now ravaged by pox-scars. Then the girl began to feel a pain in her chest that began to grow and grow until it seem that her heart would burst from her ribcage and spray the hideous man in her gore... Then she knew nothing.


Sometime Later

Tzu woke up and rose from the bed, no longer sick or in pain, the strange man was gone. She walked out of the tent and looked into a nearby puddle at her reflection. Her face once the envy of the other prostitutes in her brothel, now looked like melted wax that had been poorly remolded back into a candle. But this no longer mattered, for on the left side of her chest was a the symbol of a Diseased Hood, the symbol of the God to whom Tzu owed her very existance.

And she knew the will of her new God, "Bring me more followers, or die with the muck."

And Tzu would not die among the muck if she could help it.

Spring forth, my child. A new world awaits you.

Ikanhulta, God of Desert, smiled down at his new creation, Allora. Physically, she was little different from the myriad of mortals who already inhabited the Earth, but she did have an important difference. She was the living incarnation of Ikanhulta on this world of humans. She carried the Amulet of Searing, and she could hear the voice of Ikanhulta in her mind.

She stood before a mosque, a shrine to these infidels' false god. Stepping inside, she found only one man. He demanded that she halt. She raised her fist, Amulet in hand. He crubled to ashes. The next day, a large number of people appeared to pray to a god named Allah. She burned all but three. She told them to pray to their true Desert God, Ikanhulta. Seeing that they would die if they refused, they did so, and gave up their souls to the God of the Desert.
--------
The farmer was mortified. Lucusts appeared on his land every few years, completely devastating his and his neighbors crops until cropdusters came to kill them off. This, however, was unprecedented; on the horizon was a massive black cloud and a roaring buzz filled his ears. This was the biggest swarm of the hated insects he had every seen or heard his family describe.

He ran back to his small home to his wife and three sickly children, yelling that locusts had come early. Normaly, they would come out and try to bat as many away as possible, but he warned them that such an attempt would only put them in needless danger. They would be safer in the house.

He was wrong.

The locusts decimated the crops. Nothing was left. They attacked neighboring farms too; what could have fed a million humans for three years was consumed by this giant mouth of a swarm in hours. Then they attacked the hut, using kamakazi tactics to tear down the walls, then eating the farmer and his family alive.

Across the southern Sahara and northern Sarenghetti the same thing happened a hundred times over. When crop-dusters tried to exterminate them, they proved immune to the poison, jaming themselves in the planes' engines, downing the vehicles and their pilots.

And the three men who had sworn themselves to Ikanhulta went off to preach. The dessimation would spread northward, they said, and their Middle-Eastern nation, too, would be threatened. A handfull began to take these bizzare missionaries seriously. The seeds of the Desert God's terrible reign had been sown.

The Palace of the Balanicing Dark and Light was a different place. Here, shadows, the beings created from a mixture of darkness and light, were servants, moving from place to place on some errand for their master, Kryndos. Kryndos himself was busy nearly all the time. Patron of the Ether, he was essentially the God of Magic and Divine Thought. To him were the philosophers, magicians, scientists, and even the debators and lecturers, though of course, a number of his favored followed other gods. So be it. As the God of Divine Thought, Kryndos respected the ability of man to think with free will, the ability that allowed one to think as a god.

On his tower, Kryndos sat in deep meditation. He was cycling through the aspects of Time and Space, a reality that meant nothing to him. Viewing the mortal plane, Kryndos could see the recent havoc that was being let out. He pitied the creatures, not only for their will to survive, but for their conditions as a result of circumstances brought on by some greater beings. When would the gods learn to battle each other on the Immortal planes where it was proper. Those that had no wish to be involved had a right to not be involved. He opened his eyes, and spoke to the Council of Kryndos, the governing body that controlled his priests, and to the Pontiff, the man appointed by the Council to lead it and run the Churh when it was not in session. "Go forth, my messengers, and spread the word. amongst you is a threat unleashed by one of my peers. Search amongst your number for the most capable of minds, and set them to the task of ridding the world of the plague which now stalks hmanity upon the earth."

Karrian sighed from his abode in Gehenna. He had heard tales of the disease that targeted priests and healers and commented with a sigh, “One of my brethren has wrought this, likely he of disease or death. I doubt nature would dip into it, even thought that’s part of the portfolio.” He shook his head as he watched the pictures sent by his unwitting followers.

At this he chuckled, many of his fellow gods dismissed the powers of deceit. They were the ones who failed to realize that lies were the most prevalent part of mortal existence. He knew that the number of living humans who’d never once utter an untruth to be countable on his hands.

Travelling to earth, he sought out a few of his most influential followers, those who followed him actively and those who aided him without realizing it, the media-moguls, movie stars as well as thousands of politicians. There were a few that were honest, or at least honest enought to make his blandishments nigh worthless.

Returning to Gehenna, he smiled. Soon a mass media campaign would begin, launching from Holly and Bollywood and syndicate television and radio from across the world would began subtly promoting his cause.

*******************************************

Carmaria was lying upon a divan when she felt a stabbing pain. She looked out over the world and what she saw dismayed her. At least two of her bastard brothers were wrecking havoc across the world. One was simply exercising his own powers, the fact that they impinged upon her was unfortunate but he needed his hand slapped nonetheless. Even for the god of disease, letting a ‘super-virus’ loose was asking for it. The other was playing around with her creatures and that was just asking for it.

Reaching down, she exerted her powers, causing vegetation to whither, as well as the temperature in the lands the locusts were swarming to drop as even a few degrees would rapidly slow and kill of the swarms. She had to be careful, as locusts were wholly natural phenomena and thus needed greater regulation than what she had planned for that infernal plague that had been whipped up.

Researching the plague, she found a natural herb that if ingested in the right manner would serve as an effective antidote as long as it was taken regularly when healers treated the sick priests. Reaching out to the herbalists and others that venerate nature, and healed, and by extension her she whispered the secret to, if not halting, at least slowing the ‘super-flu’.

On the Isle of Inferno, A volcanic island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean...

Diablo, the ancient Tyrannosaur god of Fire and Evil, arose form his temple dwelling. He looked at his home. I was mostly a barren, red ladscape, with a few ruined temples where his most dedicaed followers lived. This island was not enough for him. He knew he was strong enough to defeat the other gods. He had defeated the Old Gods of Primal Urth, back when dinosaurs still lived. In fact, a few dinosaurs still lived on his island. Diablo merely waited, waiting for the time when he could realize his dream of a perfect Earth.

The Bronze Tower

Morgion, God of Decay looked into the Pool of Seeing and sneered at the attempts of the other gods to undo his work. Already there were several thousand men and women on Earth who had sworn their souls to him in exchange for their lives. These now acted as his Priests and were now "saving" the lives of their fellow mortals by extracting a dark promise from them. Swear their souls to Morgion and forever worship the God of the Bronze Tower in exchange for a cure to their disease, those who refused the deal were left to die in unspeakable pain. Most of these mortals (if they accepted the deal) would not become priests but would be considered Lay People, Morgion already had enough priests for the moment in Southeast Asia.

But several were being sent overseas to spread the virus, and by extension the Cult of Morgion.

Morgion then shifted the focus of the Pool of Seeing from the earth in general towards a new Priestess of his, the former prostitute Tzu Hzi, "This one will do quite well as my mortal foil... quite nicely indeed." Morgion said to himself as he granted Tzu a Divine Vision in which she was told of her elevation to "Voice of Morgion on Earth" and expanded her Clerical powers drastically.

This little fourteen year old would have her work cut out for her in the weeks to come.

Church of Our Lady Mary Saints, Bangkok

The Church of Our Lady Mary Saints was one of the newly constructed Catholic Churches in Thailand. The growth of Catholism in Thailand had proven to be slow but steady in the last two to three years in this mostly Buddhist country, but that growth had fallen apart in the last month.

After the Super-Flu struck and killed off all the Catholic Clergy down to the altar boys the religion of the Roman Catholics had been discredited in the eyes of many Thai people so the church had begun to die out. But worse had now come...

The five figures stood around the church altar in perfect silence, on the altar was a wailing infant, crying for a mother long past caring about the physical world. These five figures wore filthy black robes with their hoods raised over their heads to obscure their faces, the only way to tell gender was by their voices which were raised in a fell chant to their dark god.

As four of the figures continued to chant their unholy prayers the fifth figure drew closer to the alter and reached into a hidden pocket in it's robe and drew out a silver dagger caked in blood.

The figure raised the dagger point up towards the heavens and cried out in a language only insane men could understand. The shadows lengthened and expanded inside the church until it seemed that there was only a void that surrounded the figures and the alter. Then from the shadows extended a sickening green ray of light which struck the dagger at the tip and extended all the way down to the base of the weapon. The figure holding the dagger did not move an inch but continue to chant her dark prayers. Then the ray of light vanished as if it had never been but the shadows continued to linger.

The figure then lowered it's hood to reveal the face of a fourteen year old girl that had the appearance of having been melted and then remolded back together like a ball of wax. Then screaming out the name of the God to whom she had sworn her soul she plunged the dagger into the squalling infant, killing it instantly.

The girl then pulled the dagger out of the body only to witness a literal geyser of blood (much more blood than could be held in the body of a single person, let alone a baby) rise up out of the baby in a terrible rush. The blood rose up and struck into the heart of the shadows that had consumed the Church and seemed to merge into them, becomming one with the growing dark, giving it substance and materal with which to do it's evil work. The priests of Morgion did not move but only continued to chant their prayers louder and louder as the Church began to twist and become distorted.

The walls of the church were transformed from brick into the black marble, the glass windows exploded and were replaced by more black marble, the statues of the various saints and icons in the Church were turned into figures of men and women dying of diseases too terrible to look upon. The main cross above the altar simply melted and reformed into a statue of black onyx depicting the god Morgion. As for the altar...

It was no longer a perfect square of white marble where the Archbishop would stand and pray to the Christ every sunday. Now it was a broken chunk of black marble stained in blood and covered in bits of bone and most sickening of all, was that there was a permanent impression in the center of the altar, the impression of the body of the murdered infant who's death had given the Priests more than enough power to transform the Church of Our Lady Mary Saints into the first (and most holy, or unholy) Temple of Morgion on the planet Earth.

The power of Morgion was taking root and so far nothing serious had challanged it.

Ikanhulta was not at all worried about the death of his locusts. They were disposable in the first place, and they had served their purpose. Now farmers as far north as Egypt were directly asking Allora to save them, and she, of course, was quite willing to reply: "Repeat what I say. Ohora Nuevus akhanu, Ikanhulta. Myanamo Myztar carno, Ikanhulta. Morokanshar piakar Pana de Sandeyan, Ikanhulta. Shaymora, Ikanhulta."

With those words, the ones who spoke them swore themselves to Ikanhulta. Now Ikanhulta was their god and Allora their messiah. In the next week, the Nile River was expected to innundate, replenishing the soil on their farms. It did not, exept for the ones who had prayed to the God of Desert. These farmers explained what had occured to their neighbors, and many of those neighbors followed suite. Because of this Ikanhulta smiled. Other gods were doing similar work in their respective parts of the world; Morrigon in Asia and Karrian in North America. Ikanhulta needed desert, so he had targeted the largest desert land in the world: northern Africa and the Middle East. He had exploited the peasants there's most basic survival instinct: greed. Those who prayed got a good innundation and no locusts.

They did as Allora told them, and began a terrorist campaign on Cairo. Few people were actually killed, but the people were scared. Soon, the top eschilons of Egyptian government were assassinated, and Allora herself arrived in the capital.

Kryndos had been meditating when he saw the new forces arise across the globe. The gods were out to season, and they were making use of every oppurtunity that presented itself. This was going to get out of hand very quickly. He looked out from his palace, and scried visions of the future. and he saw conflict and strife. Humanity would soon be as ants to the warring gods and earth would be the great battle-field. He exited his trance and bemoaned the tragedy. He had no choice now, he would have to act. He would go to his father and ask for his guidance.

****************

Palace of the Ever Twilight

Kryndos entered the privat quarters of his father, the God of Absolute Neutrality, Gilean. Making his obeisance, his father gave him command to rise.

"You have come with troubles, my son," said the ancient and last of the original gods.

"Father, war shall soon break put upon the earth, pitting the gods of good against those of evil, the power-mongers against the visionaries. I have always believed in the idea of the conscience which you bestowed upon humanity at its creation. How am I to act now, for in the dark hours people will forget their greater existence and turn to whomever promises the greatest relief from their suffering. I am tempted to act, but I know not what I must do. You alone remain of the old gods, and so I come to you to ask for guidance."

"Kryndos, ever have you been a joy to my eyes, and your will steadfast. You will need that now. I remain, yes, but as is the nature of things, the laws which Paldine, Takhsis and I wrote into existence to create the universe, so too must I pass on to the void. My strength is waning Kryndos, and I can not be the preerver of balance in this new conflict. Humanity will undergo a great harrowing, and many will die. I leave it to you and your brothers to act as you see fit. Eventually, one of you will sit upon my throne, just as the thrones of Takhisis and Paldine will once again have occupants after this war."

"Is there nothing I can do to save you father?"

"Kryndos, I am long past saving. I created the laws that would cause the eventual destruction and rebirth of things, a cycle that has endlessly and will endlessly repeat itself. I am not above it, and I can accept the fate that I created for myself. Act Kryndos, but for humanity, which you hold dear."

Kryndos left his father's presence then, sadness in his heart. The world was indeed changing, as is the nature of things, and the old order, already shattered, would soon be swept away.

The Bronze Tower

Morgion, God of Decay looked into his Pool of Seeing with an expression of annoyance. He was watching a scene in one of the endless medical camps that had cropped in Southeast Asia due to the plague. An elderly woman was giving some sort of herbal concoction to a sick patient, Morgion could tell just from looking at the herbal remedy that it was going to work in slowing down the symptoms of the Super-Flu, giving the patient a chance to fight back the illness and survive.

"This isn't good..." Morgion thought out loud to himself, "I appears that I am going to have to unleash another, more deadly plague upon the world."

Morgion then stretched his attentions to the priesthood of his Cult on Earth, Morgion had priests in every single major city on the planet. "Lets see if the nature gods can cure this." Morgion said out loud as sent instructions to his priests on what to do.

CNN Live!
Announcer: "This is reporter Mary Snow with breaking news."

"Good evening, our top story is the new illness that has spread to every single continent around the world, the National Institute of Health has explained that this is clearly an evolved strain of Ebola (named the "Green Death" due to the green pallor of the skin after a person dies from the disease) that borrowed traits from the super-flu in Southeast Asia, the first victims always seem to be person connected to religious instututions and medical workers and then the illness spreads among the general population.

The disease acts exactly like the regular strain of Ebola except the illness works twice as fast and has proven immune to all anti-viral and anti-bacterial treatments. Once infected a person will die within 2 to 3 days.

Currently there are over 100,000 deaths in the United States resulting from the Green Death and an additional 500,000 persons in quarantine (despite the fact that the Green Death is clearly airborn).

There are over 3 million victims of the Green Death worldwide.

On a Global Scale
Around the globe the priests of Morgion in their filthy black robes and deformed faces moved among the ill, the dying, the abandoned and began promoting their faith among those who had no hope except the "mercy" or Morgion. Those that refused to embrace the healing that Morgion would provide in exchange for their eternal faith and loyalty (not to mention their immortal soul) were left to die where they lay.

In the dark depths of the Bronze Tower, Morgion smiled a very rare and hideous smile.

Drestel looked out from the Halls of Celestial Justice, and was sickened. "Those two-timing, jack-assed bastards. Why does Morgion always have to resort to spreading disease to make himself known. Well, he hath moved the scale of justice which is mine to uphold, and thus it is mine to balance. Let's see, what pathogen did he use, oh, right, Ebola. That is easy enough to deal with." Drestel sent word to one of his chief priests, telling him the steps to take. Another plant, this one far rarer than that used to fight off the super-flu, was quickly found. It had the same antigens on its cells that the virus had. Quickly starting up a breeding program, a drug was derived from its sap rapidly. When administered, it would provide immunity to those without the disease, and would mobilize the immune system for those tha thad it.

"Hmm," thought Drestel, looking at miniature set of scales that he had available. True, some of the good gods had been acting, but not enough for Drestel's tastes. This would require work. He looked upon the priests of Morgion, and decided to return one favor for another. Mobilizing the judges of the world, countries across the globe began to crack down on various "barbaric praticioners" and their orgainzations. Morgion had caused the death of a number of his priests, so Drestel decided to have Morgion's priests rounded up, tried, convicted, and shot before too much more could happen. Morgion was a god of chaos, so he would use unorganized and disorienting counter-attacks. Drestel made preparations. War was at hand, and as a God of justice, he would be ready.

The Bronze Tower

Morgion, God of Decay looked into the Pool of Seeing with a face that held no hint of expression readable to the human eye. Watching the attempts of the legal systems in several countries launch persecution programs against his religion the Seething One sneered. "The only countries where these programs are occuring are ones where my religion is not as pronounced as it is in Southeast Asia nor are any major attempts at persecution in the United States where there is total freedom of faith."

"But the so-called "God of Justice must be dealt with and I know just the way to do it." Morgion then smiled a smile that held no warmth other than the heat of pure hatred, for Drestel, for Creation... and -at some level- for himself.

The World
In the night sky the constellation of Morgion the Crowned Hood, which previously couldn't be seen in the earth's night sky towered over all other star systems in all parts of Earth, the sick-green stars that made up the constellation shined a sickening green light over the whole human race, creating states of anarchy in large portions of the world. But what caused the most fear however were the two stars that made up the eyes of the Crowned Hood, for they were as bright as a thousand supernovas and their bloodred light made even the most brave and pure of heart piss themselves in unexplainable terror.

And unseen by almost all but the most astute figures, a small star grew in the skies over the Atlantic ocean and then vanished as it crashed into the middle of that body of water. The object was the size of the CN Tower but had the density of paper and when the object crashed it instantly melted into the water, leaving a strange taint of some unknown chemical so dark that it made the color black seem bright by comparison... And the strange poison began to grow.

CNN
"This is Mary Snow with a live report from the National Agency for the Enviroment. Earlier today it was announced that a strange pollutant has entered into the oceans of Earth, the head of the NAE had this to say."

"We have seen nothing like it, out of the blue large portions of the undersea in the Atlantic Ocean have been completely wiped out, it is estimated that over a full quarter of the Atlantic Ocean's ocean life has been killed and enumerable numbers of ocean species have been driven extinct. And already signs of it have begun to appear in every single ocean body in the world.

This is going to become a problem for humans as this unknown pollutant spreads from the salt water and into the fresh water systems of the planet... Unless something is done within the next three years, every single source of water on the planet will be undrinkable for all forms of life on Earth."

"This is Mary again, in a related story there is proof that this poison doesn't affect members of one of the new "Super Religions" growing the world, The Cult of Morgion. In controlled conditions the Voco i' Morgion (or "Voice of Morgion on Earth) has eaten contaminated fish and has had no ill affects whatsoever, in fact her body reacted as if she was eating normal fish. Proof of this has caused the growing persecutions of Morgionism to decline as more and more people convert to the worship of the "Seething One". Now for a Commerical break."

He was still. And spread his warmth over the Earth making his presence known to the few men and women who followed him. His name is Ishimum and his will was great for the world, but has been relatively dormant on the planet Earth. Hearing amongst the other gods and goddesses that the distant planet called Earth would have some significant importance in the near future, he thought that he would spend this time to get to know his followers. Opening his mind, Ishimum let all the thoughts and prayers of his people flood into him.

“Give us this day our daily bread-“

“Please, Lord Ishimum, heal my mother.”

“If your there Great Ishimum…”

“HELP ME LORD!”

Are only a few of the many things that he heard all at once, from his group of 200 or so followers on Earth. Though loyal, Ishimum found that most of his followers have become victim to the seeds of doubt spread by the other gods to steal their faith and souls. This saddened Ishimum, and he blamed himself for not being there for his people.

Though absent from Earth for some time, the protector of innocent would now reveal himself to his people more than ever before, and his wrath would be felt through out the lands in those who doubted him and persecuted his people.

Among his followers, there was one man. His name was Mordikai, and he was good. A spiritual warrior with unwavering faith in Ishimum. Mordikai is an average looking man with dark shaggy hair. His cloths are ordinary, and his eyes are brown. This night the man Mordikai kneeled before his bed muttering prayers to the deity he has chosen to devout his life to.

“Please my Lord Ishimum, god of the innocent, protector of those who are true and just, give me wisdom in my thoughts so that I may be a prophet for you oh’ Lord. Make me strong so that I may battle for you Ishimum. Let me live every day for you as if it would be my last. Amen.”

Mordikai closes his prayer, and begins to climb into bed when the deity Ishimum washes over him.

“Mordikai”

He whispers. Mordikai looks up in wonder.

“Mordikai!”

Ishimum calls again.

“Yes Lord, I am here.”

Mordikai says. This is an account of what the Lord Ishimum said to his devout disciple Mordikai, the first human to come in contact with this god imparticular.

“Doubt of my existence and power has spread through the lands of Earth and I am disheartened. You, Mordikai, are my disciple, a man of my word, and a man of unwavering faith in my power. Spread my will and I will grant you great gifts from beyond. Spread my will and you will become wise beyond your years, you will be the strongest warrior that this Earth has ever known. Do my will, oh’ Mordikai, and I will make you a god among men, you will for see the future, you will heal, and raise people from the dead, and all in the name if your god Ishimum. Amen”
The god Ishimum said as clear in the mind of Mordikai as if he were standing right next to him.

“Yes my Lord, let your will be done through me!”

Mordikai plead with a smile as he dropped to his knees.

A shining light, brighter than anything Mordikai had ever seen came into his home with a wind more powerful than a thousand hurricanes, but Mordkai was untouched by these powerful winds. Slowly his hair turned to silver, and his eyes turned a crystal blue. His body was reshaped, and by the power if Ishimum, Mordikai was granted more power than any other human on the planet at his time.

“This is my disciple Mordikai, whom I am well pleased. Now go Mordikai, spread my word, so that other will have seen what you have seen, and believe in me. Know that those who rebuke you will in turn rebuke me and will feel the wrath of my hand, for I am with you.”

Halls of Celestial Justice

Drestel was unimpressed. Poison? As if that would stop him. So be it. The poison was a derivative of an old classic. He would do what was necessary. Morgion was pissing him off. First two sets of plagues, and now a poison that spread trhough water itself, using the water to grow. The "seething One" was simply catalyzing water and some carbon to form complex poisons. One unfortunate fact about complex molecules was their tendency to break apart. Drestel moved. His divine judgement, the artillery of the heavens, was unleashed.

Earth

Partly to drive up support for his cause, partly to counter Morgion, Drestel set for Malleus, the Hammer of the Gods. He hung it to oppose the Hooded One, on the opposite side of the sky, to act as a beacon to those whom felt no hope for a better day. That night, his retribution went into action. Lightening storms flared up across the globe. Electrical discharges began to build, finally culminating in a crescendo of blasts that shook the world, coordinated to uleash massive amounts of electrical discharge at a single point in time. The result was unimaginable. Poison levels dropped quickly as the molecules making up the evil concoction were ripped apart. On land, the lightening had an equally telling effect. Avoiding lightening rods, the electrical discharges attacked only buildings where Morgion's followers held their dark services. The storms themselves were concentrated in Southeast Asia and parts of the U.S. where followers of Morgion held power. The result was telling. Only followers of Morgion had been affected, and poison levels dropped significantly. Most importantly, a discharge monitor owned by one of Drestel's followers was struck seven times in a row, unharmed each time. The instruments recorded the exact frequency of the electric pulses. The scientists had their cure.

Palace of the Balancing Dark and Light

Kryndos watched in deep contemplation. Morgion had been sequentially upping each and every ante, and now Drestel was matching him step for step. Kryndos was opposed to action, but this was getting to be too much. He had to act, and quickly. Morgion was going to something else, now that the water pollution plan had been foiled. Kryndos was personally disgusted with the plot. It was a trick used to create a perpetually renewing source of poison from a supply of basic material. The gods dined on it, their divine substance turning it into the essence to feed their being. But it killed mortals, and Drestel had acted to stop it. Still, blasting Morgion's fllowers' homes and houses of worship was also taking it far, and Morgion would probably strike out against Drestel's followers as he had in the past.

Earth

Robert Greenhold knelt to pray at his bedside as he did every night. When he finished his daily obeiscance to Kryndos, he lay down, and was soon asleep.

"Robert! Robert!"

"Whaaa.." mumbled the sleeping man.

"Robert, listen."

"Who speaks," came the less groggy reply.

"Your patron, Kryndos. I have need of you Robert."

"At this point, Robert was more than aware. "How do I know it is you, for you are sworn to neutrality, my Lord."

"Which is exactly why I need you, Robert. I do not bring you a quest or warning of my imminent acts, for I have none. I come to you to be my voice. I am neutral Robert, and so I must ask you to act for me. Remind the people of their inner good. Remind them of their conscience, and remind them of their gift, that of Free Will."

Robert sat upright. "Only a dream." But as he fell back, the message caused him to think. Remind humanity of its Freedom, of its conscience. What did that mean?

Earth

Across the globe things were quiet, the strange super-plagues that had struck the human race with such horrific force were subsiding due to the quick discovery of their cures. The even more bizarre pollutant that had entered into the water supply had been cured with relative ease when a "natural cure" had been found in the form of lightning. Things seemed to be winding down in large portions of the world.

Or were they?


St. Mercy's Medical Center

Several Priests of Morgion, the God of Decay walked the dark and silent halls of St. Mercy's Medical Center, one of New York Cities many treatment centers for patients in the critical stages of the AIDS virus. Within a half hour's time they had converted over half of the patients in the hospital and in exchange for their eternal faith and devotion to Morgion, that Dark God had given them something that even the most advanced medical treatments available had not been able to do.

Give them a cure to their illness.

At the end of the night the Priests had converted over 2/3rds of the patients to the worship of the God of Decay. When they woke up in the morning the new converts would find themselves cured of the one disease that no one had been able ot cure, AIDS.


The Bronze Tower

Looking into his Pool of Seeing Morgion watched his priests move about all across the world, granting the cure to one of humanities most dangerous diseases in exchange for the immortal souls of those with the disease.

"I should of thought of this sooner." Morgion thought to himself, "Why make new diseases to use as vehicals for conversion when there are several already working their fatal magic upon humanity. And I can "cure" them all... In exchange for their eternal devotion to me of course. Soon I will have more than enough worshipers to take the gamble of the ages..."

"I will attempt to seize the Throne of Darkness and become more than just the God of Decay, I will become Morgion, God of Absolute Evil, Decay, and King of the Darkness!"