Image Transcription: Desirebro's Tale, 9/9

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I didn’t know why. Can’t honestly say I really cared. It could have been because he wanted to torture me for a bit longer, or maybe it’s because really deep down somewhere, he really cared about me and wanted to be best friends.

All I knew was that I if he desired anything, anything at all, I was going to do my best to deny him.

I fought through the pain, knowing that was far easier than to try and fight the Avatar’s compulsions, and struggled to form a single image in my mind. Thankfully, it wasn’t quite hard, since it already felt like there was a fire in my chest.

As I burst into flames, I remained in the mortal world just long enough to see the Avatar’s look of shock.

It was pleasantly cool when I awoke, and was startled to see Handelhan standing above me. I didn’t jump, or shout, or even try and get some distance between us. I just calmly sat up, turned to him, and said hello.

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He offered me a hand, which I took, and as he helped me up I asked what was going to happen next.

Before he said anything else, he asked me if I had come here because I had remembered him saying long ago that being in the Halls of the Immortals often offered a demigod opportunities when he had none elsewhere. I lied, and said I had.

Smiling now, he explained that the avatars were designed so that a portion of the Greater God’s power, along with their consciousness, was sent down to the mortal realm. That meant that the rest of their power remained in the realm of the gods. He had actually been stationed in the Halls, along with a number of other demigods, to help protect the defenseless bodies. Of course, none of these demigods had been aware that he possessed the skills of Brask.

It was perhaps the first time I ever genuinely wanted to go to the Garden of Desire. There, the massive sleeping body of a Greater Deity reclined on a divan, and I took the moment to ask why he didn’t simply wake up. Handelhan smiled, and said he had spent quite a long time developing those nearly-indestructible Avatar bodies, so it would take quite some effort for the gods to off themselves. Smiling, Handelhan then produced a dagger, coated it with a dark liquid, and plunged it into the God of Desire’s heart.

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There was a rush of shining liquid, and at first it seemed to surge towards Handelhan. But, almost as if it had caught my scent, it curved around him and splashed onto me. As it continued to pour from the god-corpse, I felt a power beyond all knowledge, beyond all words.

When I had finished absorbing the power, I realized that the Garden had changed. No longer loud and tropical, it was a serene glade with a few scattered trees. Handelhan stared at me, and I searched his heart, learning his truest desire. And, with a mere thought, Cymdra appeared before him.

While their reunion was quite touching, I was a thousand billion million suns of burning energy, and I had some business I needed to take care of.

Switching Handelhan’s desire to a more pressing one, we strode off towards the Library of Knowledge, where the God of Knowledge resided.

He told me he knew I would be coming. He also said he knew that Handelhan would double-double cross him. He also knew what the outcome of a battle between knowledge and desire would be.

He knew quite a lot, which is why he didn’t even bother to resist as Handelhan cut him down and absorbed his essence.

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Handelhan immediately began shouting about how much he knew, and how I should be in utter awe. When I managed to calm him down and asked him if he knew what our next step would be, he said it was to send Cymdra down, have her kill Qorg and Pleth before the other two deities had a chance to realize what was happening, and to help them obtain the power we had sought after for so long.

Before we could congratulate ourselves, we found ourselves within a grand chamber, with walls that stretched beyond space and a ceiling that might have also been the floor. There, the other Greater Gods had assembled themselves, and they began to judge us each in turn.

All of our deeds, all of our thoughts, all of our dreams and desires, all of them were laid out before the Gods in a single instant, or perhaps an eternity, and the Greater Gods began to speak as if they were one voice.

Qorg had proven to be a fighter beyond all others, learning from each defeat and rising to victory in the end. When the Gods asked themselves if he should become the new God of War, only the very minor God of Dissension was opposed.

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Pleth had upset many of the laws of nature, and our conquests and battles had left their scars upon the world. But, nowhere could you find a person who held a greater compassion for nature, and few who had greater compassion overall, and he was applauded by most.

Handelhan had performed terrible, horrible, unspeakable things. Most of the Gods were repulsed at the very thought of him, and him having brought Distilled Evil into the Halls of the Immortals was a crime beyond punishment.

Yet, he had done it all for the sake of knowledge, and it was agreed that after three cycles of eternity within the endless void he would be instated as the God of Knowledge. Until then, Cymdra was deemed relatively pleasant and it would be nice to have a Goddess of Knowledge for a change.

The Greater Gods thought I was sort of okay as far as a God of Desire was concerned, but none of them felt really compelled to not let me be a Greater God. They also requested that I get to work as soon as possible.

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We left that chamber, a sense of accomplishment radiating from us.

Before he left to journey into the endless void, Handelhan sent some of his new servants to deal with the crippled Avatars. Only half-conscious, the Avatars could barely resist as they were thrown into a volcano, which Handelhan assured us would likely destroy them.

Qorg took a moment to apologize for ever thinking that Handelhan was anything other than a great friend, and they embraced like brothers. Pleth, once again youthful, grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me towards the God of War and the God of Knowledge.

Our challenges were just beginning, with all the responsibilities of Greater Gods upon us. But, as we stood there, arms around each other’s shoulders, we promised we would never forget the time we had spent as barely gods.

THE END

[Transcriber's Note: Well, that was a lot of text. Hope you enjoyed!]

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