Oh my God it isn't totally dead yet. Yes, folks, I'm not giving up on this just yet. We've got two chapters to go!

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Art ©  eda
Nyst ©  eldrikke
Nocturne ©  nocturne
Story, everyone else © c'est moi

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There was only a moment to act; so much had happened in so little time. Everything the Palamani Dominion knew about the world had fallen to pieces in a matter of minutes, and two of the Dominion’s most powerful leaders had witnessed it all. Roland, a slave, had been raised to godhood, and a spiteful god of a dead empire had appeared to take his vengeance. Edathan, the God of Warrior’s Strength of the old Remeran Empire, stood poised to strike down his new rival’s followers. A bolt of magical energy rushed towards the two massively built Consuls of the Dominion, Renard and Claudia, and in a split second, Renard shoved the hyena out of the way, taking Edathan’s magic full in the chest like a bolt of lightning. Like iron melting and losing shape in the fires of the forge, Renard’s body collapsed as the demonic dog of a deity stared on, and then locked eyes with Roland.

“There’s where you will lead people, ‘God of the Strong.’ Leave divinity to those of us that know what we’re doing.” He spat, and disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.

“Renard!” Claudia cried out, and rushed over to her Co-Consul, scooping up his withering body in her bulging arms. “Look at him!” She shouted at Roland and Nocturne, the male Consul’s political partner. “He’s- he’s shrinking, shriveling-” the hyena’s voice broke as the hybrid shrunk smaller and thinner in her arms, his powerful muscles seeping away like sand through a sieve.

Beside herself, Claudia’s face was a mask of terror. Her head snapped back, one eye furiously glaring as it peaked over her burgeoning shoulder as she locked eyes with Roland. “Do something! Didn’t you say he was good to you?!”

Nocturne stared with the same sullen, horrified look Claudia had, but remained silent. Roland, now large enough to eclipse the hyena, slowly lowered his continentally sized body, placing a mammoth hand on the Consul’s broad shoulder. “I… I wouldn’t know what to do.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be a God?! Reward the strong- reward your faithful!” Claudia demanded, hot tears standing in her eyes. “He believed you even when I called him weak, when I called him a fool! He’s the conqueror of Illias, and Consul of your people!”

“Even if I can do it, I don’t know how!” Roland protested. “I- I was just made… this…” He gestured to his titanic mass, bulges of muscle rippling under his white fur with every move, “I don’t know what I can do. What if I killed him on accident?”

“You can’t just leave him like this! He made you what you are!” Claudia shot back. The husk of a body shivering in her hands was bone-thin, swaddled in the cloth and armor that, just a few moments ago, had barely managed to cover him. His tawny fur seemed thin and sickly, and his leonine tail hung limp.

“And I won’t!” Roland stood to his full height, his monumental body casting the hyena in his shadow. “I just… I don’t know what to do!”

Nocturne stared solemnly at his friend. The ram-horned husky could barely manage to look at the mangled husk. “What do you need to make him better?” he said in an even tone.

Roland was running his hands through his mane, biceps mashing against his meaty pecs and shoulders, “I don’t know! I need… I need a moment…”

“Go east,” a voice echoed in his head. Roland recognized it; Valentulus, the first Imperator of the Dominion. His ability to reach through time and space from beyond the grave and give unwarranted advice inside Roland’s head was an unfortunate side-effect of Roland’s massive growth spurt. “You need time and space to hone your strength. If you want to know how to undo Edathan’s work, go east.”

The hybrid nodded. “Take the time you need. We’ll be here when you get back. Please… hurry.”

“I will.”

“I’m coming with you.” Claudia, after gently laying Renard down, stood, a fiery determination in her eyes.

“You what?” Roland blinked.

“If you’re the God of the Strong, then it’s my duty to follow you. If you can make Renard better, doubly so. And if you’re not… then you can’t stop me.” Claudia hefted her greataxe.

“Insolence!” spat Dominus, another former Imperator, “She dares deliver ultimatums to her God? You, who are so much stronger?”

“Strength comes from numbers, too. She’s not useless just because you’ve gained greater strength.” Valentulus counselled.

Roland looked to Nocturne, who was already dragging Renard to a cot, and the hybrid gave him a subtle shake of his head. The unicorn turned his gaze to the sky, and gave a long sigh, “Fine. Let’s get going.”

---

The lands immediately East of Nova Remera, the fallen city that Roland had fled along with Renard, Nocturne, and Claudia, were not part of the Dominion, but its mysterious ally, the Da-Zhou Empire. The frontier of the eastern nation were arid plains that seemed to stretch on forever.

“Is all of Da-Zhou like this?” Roland asked to break the tense silence between him and Claudia. This was the first time he had ever been alone with the hyena when she didn’t try to physically coerce him; the fact that he was now more than three times her size probably had something to do with it.

She glanced up at Roland with weary eyes, watching the mountainous unicorn lumber across the plains, every muscle on him bulging and rippling just by walking. “Not from what I’ve been told, no. After these plains is a great desert, a huge mountain range, and then lush fields and forests beyond the mountains, where the Da-Zhou heartland is.”

Dominus’ voice dripped with venom as it bounced around Roland’s head, “Look at her. She’s seething with jealousy, now that she’s the weaker one. She’ll betray you like the cowardly woman she is under that bulk.”

“She’s merely scared. Her whole world has been turned upside down,” argued the voice of Valentulus, the first Imperator.

“Do not speak of her as if she’s a little girl. I know her. Please, I beg you, just be patient with her,” pleaded Crystalla, the only woman to ever take the mantle of Imperator.

“Ha! Patience? You don’t have time for patience. If she is not willing to submit to you, kill her or leave her to die in this wasteland.” Dominus growled.

Roland snapped, “Shut up!”

Claudia looked up at him, “What? I was only answering your question!”

The unicorn shook his head, “I- I’m sorry, I thought I heard something.”

“Hm.” The hyena gave him a cursive glance before jogging ahead; she already had to walk fast to keep up with the towering unicorn’s gait. “What do you expect to find out here?”

“I’m not sure.” Roland rolled his mountainous shoulders, “Can I ask you something?”

“You are the God of the Strong, are you not? You don’t need to ask permission if you are.” Claudia replied curtly.

“What’re you going to do with Renard if… when I make him better?”

Claudia turned around and arched a brow, “What do you mean?”

Roland shrugged again, his shoulders nearly swallowing up his cheeks with the sheer swell of muscle, “You’re both Consuls. You need to run the Dominion together, maybe you should try getting along.”

Claudia clicked her tongue, “The politics of the Dominion’s senate aren’t your concern.”

“If I’m your god now, wouldn’t it be one of my chief concerns?”

The hyena stopped, her bulging arms tensing. “Yes. I suppose.” She said through gritted teeth.

“Why can’t you get along with him? Renard still has a thing for you… and I think you do, too.” Roland crossed his arms, boulder-sized biceps digging into his voluptuous pecs that spilled over his forearms.

“Hah.” Claudia scoffed, “He hurt someone else I loved… I know he’s responsible for my Imperatrix’s disappearance. I… I would’ve come back to him, apologized. I would have moved the mountain Virtus sits on to make it up to him. But then he killed Crystalla.”

“No, he didn’t.” Crystalla’s voice stated in a calm tone. “He was my foremost general, and my friend, before… well. No one was without fault.”

“He didn’t.” Roland said.

“What? Oh, yes. I’m sure he twisted the story to suit his vision. He’s good at that. Of course his former slave would side with him.” Claudia scoffed.

“No, he really didn’t. I know he didn’t. Just trust me, it’s, uh…” he made a mysterious gesture with his hands, “God stuff.”

Claudia didn’t seem to be swayed. “Regardless… my personal life is not a topic for conversation, god or no.” As she began to jog ahead again, she lumbered her way up a hill, and gasped. “Come, you should see this.”

Roland followed after her, and knelt down next to Claudia. The hill gave a commanding view of the valley below it, and in that valley was a monstrous looking creature. Plodding around on all four limbs, it was positively massive. Every limb was thick and heavy with muscle, rolling and jostling every other part of the body. The creature was so muscular, it had to adopt a distinctive gait just to move and keep his overgrown limbs from bumping against the rest of it. It had a distinctly reptilian look; with blue scales, white underbelly, and a thick, white mane running down its gargantuan back.

“Nyst.” Roland breathed, his eyes going wide.

“You know this creature?” Claudia whispered.

“He… he was at Nova Remera. He was one of the merchants--”

“He dies.” Claudia snarled, and beat her axe on the rocks.

“No!” Roland hissed, and yanked Claudia down behind the crest of the hill as Nyst’s head glanced up at the sound.

“He needs to die! He poisoned our water for his cowardly coin.” Claudia demanded, struggling against Roland, but the unicorn’s hand alone enveloped her shoulder, and his arm’s vast muscles were barely twitching as he held her in place.

“Kill him!” Dominus hissed.

“He also poisoned himself to save us,” Roland argued.

The hyena spat. “Good. Then we’re putting him out of his misery.”

“No! I…” Roland glanced up over the crest of the hill, “I think I can help him.”

“What?” Claudia’s jaw dropped, “You can’t be serious! He was part of the reason the city, my city, was overrun with… with monsters! He needs to pay!”

Roland jerked Claudia around to face him, and locked eyes with her. “Why? It won’t bring back the dead.”

“It wasn’t your city! You weren’t tasked with defending it. Every dead Palamani is on…” Claudia hung her head, “It’s my fault. I wasn’t… strong enough.”

Roland thinned his lips and looked at the hyena.

“No one could’ve forseen such a disaster.” Valentulus said, “This had nothing to do with her strength.”

“This didn’t have anything to do with your strength.” Roland echoed, “You lost because you were taken by surprise, and the city was taken from the inside. But now you need to make a choice. Are you stronger than your pride?”

Claudia was beside herself as she looked up at Roland. She was struggling with herself before, finally, dropping her axe. “Do what you will.” She said in a quiet, still voice.

Roland nodded, and then walked around the hill.

“Nyst! Nyst, it’s me, Roland.” He shouted at the corrupted dragon. The beastly former merchant looked up with diluted eyes, and growled.

“You didn’t think this was going to be easy, did you?”

With little warning, Nyst let out a roar, and, digging his powerful limbs into the ground, charged at Roland. The monstrous dragon slammed into the unicorn with all the force of a tidal wave, knocking him to the ground.

“Nyst! Stop! You know me- you have to!” Roland protested, grappling with the dragon. Their mighty arms locked with each other, biceps mashing and grating against each other, their faces kept apart only by their expansive chests.

The wrestling continued for what seemed like ages, until Claudia charged in. With a surge of strength, Roland and Claudia shoved Nyst off, and sent the dragon sprawling on to his back.

“What now?” Claudia shouted, brandishing her axe.

“Let me try something.”

As the dragon rolled around on its bulging flanks, Roland built up a solid speed, his powerful legs pounding into the ground, and then slamming on top of the dragon. He locked one of Nyst’s upper limbs in his arm, pressing his hand on top of the dragon’s horned head.

“You have him! Unlock your strength. Consume him.”

“What?” Roland grunted, struggling to hold Nyst down.

“Just like Edathan did, you can sap away his strength. You’ve beaten him. You want to heal your friend? You need the dragon’s strength.” Dominus urged.

“Didn’t you do this to save him?” Crystalla countered.

“Stay the course you’ve set for yourself. You have the power. You need only focus.” Valentulus said.

“You don’t have time! He’ll break free. You’re losing your grip!”

“It’s up to you.”

Roland growled, and, with the last of his strength, shoved Nyst’s head down to the ground. “Nyst? I know you’re in there. I- I’m sorry if I do this wrong.”

Roland breathed, and focused. He could feel the sheer power of the dragon writhing in his hands, the very essence of his strength. It was something on another level of awareness. He need only reach out and take it…

But he felt something else, too. It was strong, but it was also tainted.

“Not that!” Dominus hissed, “You’ll only take on a burden someone else is too weak to handle.”

Roland didn’t give it a second thought. He consumed the other, darker essence, and could feel its disquiet. It was a low, muttering, angry sound, like the rolling of thunder far away. At last losing his grip, he fell off the dragon.

“Roland!” Claudia shouted, and rushed to his side.

The unicorn sat up. “I… I’m fine.”

Nyst was shaking his head. His size hadn’t changed; he was still over-muscled he was forced to walk on all fours, but there was a new awareness in his eyes as he came near the muscular titan he had just wrestled.

“Fr… frrr…friend Roland?” Nyst slurred.

Claudia stared at the dragon, “What did you do?”

Roland grinned as he stood to his full height. “I just figured out how to heal Renard. Edathan’s about to have a bad day.”