Plague of divinity

Chapter 28

Aldrion's POV

It was a fine night to be out. Not a cloud in the sky above as the small crowd of excited people awaited the arrival of their saviour. This was it, they were finally going to be rid of all their problems caused by the divine. Bad crops? Too much rain? A pesky plague? The answer to all their issues was only a few days away, all thanks to a man named Aldrion.

"Do you see him yet?"

"No not yet but aren't you excited?"

"I can't believe someone we know is about to become a divine being, this truly is a time to be alive. What an amazing man-"

"Wait wait, here he comes!"

An eager cheer arose from the crowd as a tattooed man stepped out in some robes wearing his modified bone mask. He let out a chuckle as the people surrounded him.

"Are you all ready?"

His voice sounded out, only riling the crowd up even more. He ran a hand through his dark, fluffy hair before speaking up once again once the crowd had quietened down slightly.

"For thousands of years, mortals like us have always been forced to adapt to the gods' will, no matter what it was-"

The people listened intently, hanging off every word that came from his mouth.

"We have suffered countless times because of them, suffered great loses and have been shown not a hint of remorse in return. These divine beings just don't care about us! Just one of them could kill us all right now only because they woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and felt like taking it out on someone. We have given them so much throughout our existence, offerings, prayers, statues; even our lives just to try and please fickle beings with no self-control."

The crowed murmured in agreement.

"There is a solution to this however! Why must we live our lives in pain when they do as they please every single day? ...Because they can! They believe that with their amount of power, there is no way a bunch of humans could ever stand up to their brutish ways. But what if one of us had power like that? What could they do if a being just as powerful as them told them to stop picking on those weaker than themselves? I can tell you one thing, they wouldn't be able to brush them under the rug nearly as easily as they could a normal human, could they!"

Noises of agreement rose up in a short cheer

"So my brothers, sisters and everyone else, I ask you now. Are you willing to stand with me to do what's right? Are we going to stand together against these heartless monsters that control us or are we going to let them walk all over us as they have done for thousands of years? If so, I am ready to give myself to you, to lend myself as a voice of the people to show them what's what and make sure they wouldn't be pushing us around ever again!"

A louder cheer rang out along with an enthusiastic applause as the crowd closed in on him, lifting him up and beginning to carry him up to the place they had prepared earlier on.

Aldrion could feel excitement rushing through his veins as he was carried by the people, he knew that thanks to everything they'd done he could finally carry out what he'd been meaning to for a while, over throwing those who needed to learn to how use their powers better. Truth be told he couldn't deny one of the reasons he started this whole thing in the first place was to piss off the priests in the temple, he knew there was something off about them from the start but when they started killing people during the start of the plague he knew he had to do something to get to them. By killing off one of their sacred deities and then becoming one himself he knew it wouldn't be something they could ignore. He could probably admit to his luck that they hadn't tried to come after him yet, as he wasn't certain what they would've tried to do; probably try to kill him too but even if they succeeded he had still had fun turning people against them. By supporting the villainous gods, some of which actively try to cause harm, they too are viewed in a bad light. And for good reason.

He took a nice deep breath of the night air and smiled, this was perfect. He couldn't deny the slight nervousness he felt towards the next stage but he knew it was necessary if he wanted to have any kind of success. For the sake of his followers he knew he'd just have to put on a brave face and get on with it, not that he'd probably be able to back out anyways seeing how far they had come but still.

It was time now, they were nearly at the location. Scanning the crowd quickly, Aldrion was a little disappointed that neither Mags nor Enrick had decided to show up considering how he considered them both good friends of his but he knew better than to dawdle on it in case it showed up on his face, for the sake of the crowd he was currently being closely watched by.

They placed him down near the large stone box that had been prepared and filled with the blood they collected from Sherizawa earlier. He walked towards it, looking into the swirling purple liquid filling the box, it possessed a sheen almost similar to that of oil if looked at under a light. He undid to top of his robe and slid it down until it just covered his bottom half, meaning he could easily step out of it when the time came and in the meantime protect the eyes of the crowd.

He gave a smile as a cup of tea was handed to him. Again, another thing that had been specially designed for this occasion, containing ingredients that would make him more able to survive the ritual. The process should be easy as long as everything went to plan. All he needed to do was drink this tea, say a word or so to the crowd, get in the box with the divine blood, have the lid placed on top and sleep for three days. After which his followers have agreed to take him out and use him as their voice with his new divine prowess... Easy right? Heh, it did make him a little worried as mentioned before, but in times like these he was pretty sure they'd be desperate enough for a solution to their little plague problem they'd be certain to get him back out again... assuming it worked.

The gentle breeze almost made him want to cover back up again but not wanting to go through the embarrassment of putting it back up right after he had pulled it down he decided just to grin and bear it.

It was time.