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Heat... that was the way of things in Ixiaver, the desert continent on Vakkert Sedd. Only the hardiest of creatures lived outside of the shorelines and rivers that allowed for fertile soil where it could. That didn't stop a certain long-furred creature from walking through the middle of the high dunes in the heat of the blazing midday sunlight. "Things have been going pretty great for me, lately!" A voice called out, narrating only to himself in a chipper, soft and friendly voice.
Through the sands trotted the Zorgoia Zephyr, walking unimpeded with his head held high, tail raised over his back, carrying a satchel that was jingling along with his every step as he continued to muse to himself. "I've got a lot of friends now, some of them are really close to me too!" He added as he kept moving along, walking to and fro with nothing in mind except his destination. The heat of Ixiaver never bothered him, as his wind magic always kept a cool breeze on his back and under his coat to refresh him. His eyes locked onto a distant object and his trot slowed down to a small canter as he gazed upon it...
5 years ago.
"So... you're the new god?" The goddess Serqet said to the young Zorgoia, who was just focused on getting his bearings in this strange new place and position.
"That's what they tell me!" Zephyr said happily, "I've always gone by the name Zephyr, I know it's already taken by the guy up in Olympia, but no reasons there can't be two, right?" He said just as eagerly.
"Of course!" She said with a chuckle, before lowering her voice though. "Just... word of advice, Zephyr, be careful around Ra. He's not the one from our time on the Earth, this is a Successor, and he is... a little eager to prove his authority. I know you have a chaotic disposition... he's going to be defensive about that." She warned.
His ascension was done to enforce a measure of control onto him, unbeknownst at the time to him. Considered an "Other" because he was touched by and could harness powers that transcended this dimension, he held more power than any creature short of the Primal Beings who govern all pantheons and the consistency of reality itself. Not that Zephyr even back then could comprehend or care to utilize the full scop of the Eldritch-painted-as-cartoony powers he wielded.
Being assigned the succession of God of Winds should have put Zephyr into a position of being slightly disdained in a pantheon who mostly lived in a land of sandy deserts - cursing the dry heat that sapped strength and whipped up biting sandstorms that would bury cities and take lives - but Zephyr was too innocent and too gentle to truly understand his scope, and thus his scope went ignored. The winds he brought to Ixiaver were cool in defiance of logic, a fresh and gentle breeze that would invigorate the steps of travelers through the land, gradually stealing both spheres and worship from others. God of Travelers became another appellation as they prayed for and praised Zephyr's calming gales.
However... what would be the downfall of all would be Zephyr's open disdain for the Ixiaver pantheon's practices of slavery. To bind another being's will and fate was the same to him as trying to bottle a windstorm and he stood in full defiance of it, creating his true title: Zephyr the Windcaller, God of Winds and Freedom, and making it clear he would shelter any escaped slaves who came to his territory.
Back in the present, the Zorgoia kept on his march, "My boss in the new pantheon... he's really sweet too." Zephyr said, continuing his self-narration as he took notice of the distant buildings and gave a soft inhale before moving to approach them, all the spring in his step having fallen away. To anyone who knew Zephyr in detail though would know the most dire of signs; his ever-lingering smile had fallen, and gained a hint of melancholy to it as he approached further.
Anurama, an Anubis from an alternate timeline of Earth had recently been Called to Vakkert Sedd, to replace the role of Anubis as judge of the dead... but to also replace the title of Pantheon Head, as Ra was... gone. Things were moving again and they were moving fast, it was hard for him to believe it had only been five years. He was so sweet, and Zephyr immediately saw his kind intentions and considered him a friend, almost more than a superior, in many ways.
Zephyr approached the buildings he had spent the time walking towards, having come up to a cracked and sand-worn archway, half-buried in a dune. Zephyr inhaled softly again as he dropped his tail and let the satchel fall and pop open, to reveal the contents as a doll of himself, a scroll filled with names, and an incense burner. "I've even got a new follower." Zephyr said, his voice having fallen now, the usual loud happiness fading, if not just a bit.
"I guess I'm ready to give the whole... god thing a try again."
5 years ago.
"Impudent child! The way you behave flies in the face of my rule!" The sun god roared in anger at Zephyr's tribunal. "We thought that to give you a fraction of godly might would reign in the chaos you brought to our lands with your strange magic, and yet you now stand as a champion of slaves as they break their chains, murder their masters and hide under your territory from reprisal!" He continued.
Handed a territory that had no fertile land, rivers or oasis, Zephyr was effectively kicked to the back row to be worshipped in suffered silence, visited only by those who would wish to make a trek to his temple. His youthful spark of defiance made him use his wind magic to cut and erode a river all the way to the front of his temple, to offer succor to the escaped slaves who rallied under him. Within months, Zephyr's temple had become a temple city, carved sandstone and monuments erected by hand and by magic by people who owed everything to Zephyr, but did all these things because they chose to do so.
"Lord Zephyr, look!" One of the citizens of the city said as they ran up to Zephyr, a bright smile on their face as the ran up to him with a doll that bore Zephyr's likeness, but looked... really bad.
Zephyr looked at it and squeed, then reached down and grabbed the doll and hugged it, "It's so ugly, I love it!" He said, making the weaver girl blink.
"Lord Zephyr?" She said, clearly caught off guard by his bluntness.
"It's ugly but you made it because you wanted to!" Zephyr said, knowing her story well, as he knew all of his followers' stories, "You weren't ever supposed to do anything except listen to what your master told you, but you made this of your own will, cuz you're free, cuz you could!" He added, immediately making the realization flash on the girl's face that made her smile. Freedom to pursue, to grow, to become more than what her former owners told her she was ever allowed to be, that was the beauty of Zephyr's city and of being protected by him, freedom to pursue anything that you would like to... even if you were awful at it. He looked up at the slightly misshapen statues of himself by people who would never be stonecutters and structures made of patched together wood traded from afar, made by people who would never work in construction had they not found their freedom.
Everything went wrong the next day.
Called to trial, Zephyr was to be dealt with by the pantheon for going against their ways. Zephyr saw himself as invincible and, in truth, arrogant and flippantly brushed off the ranting and raving of Ra for challenging his power, well aware due to his pantheon's various schemes and plots against the previous Ra the dangers of letting a threat like Zephyr slip his leash. Ra declared Zephyr was to be exiled to a demigod and stripped of his powers and immortality. But when he tried to invoke the ritual, all it took was a "nah" from Zephyr, delivered dismissively, and the ritual failed. This escalated tensions to their final level and he slammed his staff on the ground. Defying a pantheon head's judgement in this way could only have come from Zephyr's Otherly powers, what they thought was a leash was never bound to his neck in the first place, and he could just look a greater god in the face and reject their judgement.
"But..." Zephyr said in the present, after having set up the incense burner, looking at the doll and the list of names as he stared through the archway. "But..." Zephyr said again, his face now totally neutral, but his tone choking back pained tears.
"But I still miss you all so much, my faithful friends." Zephyr finally choked out as he flopped on his side, staring through the archway, the entrance to his buried temple city, past and present colliding in his mind as he remembered how this ended, his mind's eyes seeing ruins as though staring through a portal.
5 years ago
Few things can hurt a god, but every god needs followers and without them they will fade eventually, first to demigods, then to mortals. As Zephyr traded verbal back and forths with an enraged Ra, it was Serqet once more who stepped in to diffuse the tensions. Perhaps it was because she was the god of venomous creatures and Zephyr was one such venomous creature, but they were quick and good friends in the old days, so she did her best to look out for Zephyr, but unfortunately she couldn't save him, from Ra or from himself.
In a huff, Zephyr stormed off back home, only to find the portal sealed by sand, a large quantity of sand. "He didn't... no, no he didn't." Zephyr said, his heart dropping instantly as he took to the skies, his body dissolving in the air itself, allowing him to travel anywhere in the world he wanted instantly. He arrived to his temple city and gasped, placing a paw over his mouth as his eyes went wide with shock and grief - the entire thing... buried in a sandstorm up to the roof of the highest buildings. Using his control of wind he swept the sand away in one massive burst and ran into his city, through the archway he lay in front of in the present day and looked around, his chest burning up with sorrow... he was too late. How long ago did this happen? Was this because he was busy bickering with Ra while he was passing this judgement? And the way the sand drowned the city, entering even the shelters... it was guided, it was directed.
It was spite, his city had been wiped out by a disaster brought about by his own element. He ran through the city trying to find anyone, anybody that had managed to hold on under the weight and breathlessness of the sand, and he found nothing. Wandering the city as his steps slowed down and he began to cry, the final straw was seeing the weaver-girl's lifeless body, with that awful looking doll of himself laying next to her second, much better attempt of a cute little plushy that looked like a cross between a seal and an orange. The floodgates opened, and Zephyr screamed aloud and cried in that spot for hours.
Once he was finished, grieving but with a growing fury in his heart, Zephyr stormed the pantheon's halls screaming for Ra.
"You made a mistake when you defied me, demon of chaos." Ra said, making it clear how quickly he now dismissed Zephyr. And then he pushed just that littlest bit further. "Why are you so tearful? They were just mortals, made to serve us."
Zephyr snapped in an instant at the dismissal and the casual cruelty of the lives that were snuffed out purely to hurt someone else. "Made to serve?! They had names that we didn't give them, they had aspirations and lives that weren't ours, they were my friends, more than just 'my mortals'!" Zephyr screamed through tears as as, on the mortal plane, a horrific gale kicked up that quickly swallowed the entire continent of Ixiaver in a sandstorm that could be seen from the shores of neighboring continents and islands. "How dare you! How dare you!" Zephyr screamed in rage as the pantheon watched in growing horror as Zephyr began to show a degree of power that nobody, not even he, was aware he had as his anger was starting an apocalyptic sandstorm over the entire continent.
"Zephyr! Please!" Serqet begged, grabbed Zephyr into a hug. "You are a god of a pantheon. You have a say over your mortals' role in the afterlife. Go and retrieve them, see them, calm yourself." She begged, winning through Zephyr's heart and getting him to calm down. "Walk the Duat, go to them." She said, whispering quietly. Zephyr's friendship with her was the only reason he calmed down and agreed, going to walk the afterlife's road to retrieve his followers, who he knew had kind and pure hearts that would earn them paradise. As Zephyr walked away, another of the gods approached Serqet, whispering in concern, "You know what he'll find", they said to her, and she just nodded, sadly, "We've let this go on too long... I believe Zephyr will end it, he needs to."
Long ago, the Primal Beings had made a single rule of judgement that every afterlife should follow; only the weight of one's sins mattered in judgement, heaven and hell were chosen entirely by the deeds in one's life and not by who they believed in or what gods personally thought of them. When Zephyr arrived to the place of his follower's judgement, was he saw reignited the broken-hearted fury in his chest, set into a wildfire by one simple sentence.
"Guilty, for the sin of worshipping the false god Zephyr, bringer of chaos." He heard from Anubis, as the scales tipped against them, consigning them to eternal misery.
In that moment, an Other realized their potential.
In that moment, a Pantheon died.
The sky of every realm of the pantheon's afterlives shattered like glass and fell away to reveal something akin to TV static as Zephyr dove into sands of hell, and within seconds, the entire desert turned to glass, and millions of years of damned souls were ejected from their judgements. The final strike was for Zephyr to free the worst of the worst - committing an impossible act, a true heresy, his wind magic backed by his eldritch energies split the chimera Ammit in half, spilling out the souls that had been fed to her as their judgements. When he did however, what came next changed the context of this rampage entirely; Anubis - the REAL Anubis - spilled out of her corpse as well, and standing up with rage in his heart struck down the judge, revealing it to be a golem.
The look of shock and horror on the face of the rest of the pantheon was unparalleled when a million-years-sealed Anubis marched on heaven with an army of damned souls - millions of whom were sentenced to their fates unjustly - at his back, and Zephyr at his side, reality itself warping and breaking with every step. There was to be a reckoning and there was to be justice.
In the present, Zephyr looked down at the sand, his neutral expression having finally turned into a frown as he focused on the pain of that day and the grief. "Why did they make you suffer because of me... it will never be right!" Zephyr said as he shook his head, fighting back open tears as his forever happy-go-lucky mask fell away to show the pain he kept in his heart from having his friends, who he loved like family, killed because of pantheonic power struggles he wanted no part in, just because he was different in a way they didn't like.
5 years ago.
As consequence of his rage, Zephyr had uncovered a scheme the likes of which finally drew the attention of those highest powers. The Primal Beings themselves intervened in this tragedy by calling court, and taking every single being present to stand trial.
What exactly happened within the trial? That memory is sealed and while Zephyr remembers, anyone who was left after that incident was given a compulsion that prevents them from going into specifics - laid down by Primals, not even Zephyr's reality warping is able to overcome it. But the results speak for themselves.
The pantheon was dissolved entirely, every god clearly found to hold at least some culpability in their head god's scheme to enforce a caste system in life and in death that amounted to little more than an eternity of slavery and use like objects instead of true paradise for the valorous, and hell for the wicked. Only Zephyr, the whistleblower, and Anubis, who was sealed away, were spared the culling that followed, at best the others were all stripped away to demigods, the direct conspirators were reduced directly to mortals... and the position of Sun God, the title of Ra? Retired entirely. Though the current holder of the seat did not start these injustices, the Successor that stepped up knowingly continued it. For this reason, the next Sun God would be entirely new, rather than a successor to the existing seat and title of Ra.
Though the Pantheon would not be destroyed entirely, like a former pantheon whose very name was struck from existence after they began to actively destroy souls as punishment (by far the MOST unforgiveable crime in existence), it would only be filled with Successor gods, and that would only come after Anubis had rebuilt enough of an afterlife for mortal souls go to - done right, this time.
When the time came to pass judgement on Zephyr, the Primals took pity on him. He was dangerous, but he was hurt, hurt beyond reason by someone that they were planning to deal with once they had firmer proof of his dealings, but was accelerated by Zephyr breaking the afterlife. It wouldn't be justice to sentence him to oblivion as they would an actively malicious Other when he only lashed out because he was antagonized and pushed to any living creature's emotional breaking point. At the suggestion of the Primal Nyx, and with Zephyr's consent to its fairness, Chronos sealed Zephyr away in a time bubble, where he would experience a hundred years of time, over five real-time years.
Now finally able to grieve, sealed away in a place where he could be alone with his thoughts for as long as he needed to be, Zephyr let it all out and began to truly mourn and weep for his lost friends and followers, crying for them, reflecting on them. As time passed though, he began to think about the other things. He could have done it differently, the way he handled being a god and joining the pantheon, maybe he could have been a bit more respectful and maybe that would have bought him the time the Primals needs to make their case and do this without the sacrifice. And his temper... gods, he thought, he almost wiped out an entire continent, what would that have made him?
A hundred years lived over five would be enough to drive most to madness, but Zephyr was already quite mad, in his own ways, so it was simply a chance to reflect, to think and to live. When the barrier fell, Zephyr's emotional scars had healed over, even though he knew they'd never go away forever he was ready to get back out in the world and explore how it had changed in five years. When he saw a white dragon flying overhead, he gave a big smile and chased after him, to start his new adventures.
In the present, Zephyr gave one last exhale as the moon rose into the sky, casting a blue light into the sky and bringing a chill to the desert. "You guys... don't mind right?" Zephyr said, still seeming melancholy, but having let his tears dry up, as he spoke to nobody, his ears twitching, as though expecting a response from people that weren't there. "Slavery is illegal here now, but there's dying gasps... they need me back, they need to know Freedom is still a godhood they can flock under." He added.
A breeze kicked up behind him, a breeze that wasn't his magic in this arid desert, carrying coolness. And as the wind brushed his ears, his eyes shot open and the tears started over again as he lowered his head to try to keep from completely losing his composure again, that familiar smile finally returning as he blinked and looked up at the night sky, "I promise!" He said in response with that familiarly cheery, happy voice, having heard the voices of his city, of his followers... of the friends he loved so much as to consider them his family members.
Looking around, he saw the silhouette of a jackal-man in a distant dune before he ducked away at being seen, Zephyr smiling as he knew why he heard their voices on the wind when he asked that question to seemingly nobody. Pulling himself up and stowing the doll and the list of his citizens' names away, a hard gale burst the sand clinging to his fur off as he looked back one more time at the ruins.
"It's time to start over. The God of Winds and Freedom... is home."
- End.
Hoo... it's been a long time since I've done a completely SFW, in-depth and emotional story.
Zephyr's past is something I've kept incredibly close to my chest for the going on seven years he's existed as I work on small details, to finally find a chance to post it all at once. You may have seen abridged versions if you follow my Twitter or my Toyhou.se, but this is the first time I've wanted to go extremely in-depth on it, framed as Zephyr having a remembrance of everything that lead him here and now.
Some scars never quite heal, they just fade away and become gentler. Though Zephyr has healed quite well from his trauma, he'll never forget what happened.
The amazing artwork that portrayed this memorial and inspired me to finally get this well-kept origin in the background is all attributed to
Corganda
Zephyr belongs to me!
Through the sands trotted the Zorgoia Zephyr, walking unimpeded with his head held high, tail raised over his back, carrying a satchel that was jingling along with his every step as he continued to muse to himself. "I've got a lot of friends now, some of them are really close to me too!" He added as he kept moving along, walking to and fro with nothing in mind except his destination. The heat of Ixiaver never bothered him, as his wind magic always kept a cool breeze on his back and under his coat to refresh him. His eyes locked onto a distant object and his trot slowed down to a small canter as he gazed upon it...
5 years ago.
"So... you're the new god?" The goddess Serqet said to the young Zorgoia, who was just focused on getting his bearings in this strange new place and position.
"That's what they tell me!" Zephyr said happily, "I've always gone by the name Zephyr, I know it's already taken by the guy up in Olympia, but no reasons there can't be two, right?" He said just as eagerly.
"Of course!" She said with a chuckle, before lowering her voice though. "Just... word of advice, Zephyr, be careful around Ra. He's not the one from our time on the Earth, this is a Successor, and he is... a little eager to prove his authority. I know you have a chaotic disposition... he's going to be defensive about that." She warned.
His ascension was done to enforce a measure of control onto him, unbeknownst at the time to him. Considered an "Other" because he was touched by and could harness powers that transcended this dimension, he held more power than any creature short of the Primal Beings who govern all pantheons and the consistency of reality itself. Not that Zephyr even back then could comprehend or care to utilize the full scop of the Eldritch-painted-as-cartoony powers he wielded.
Being assigned the succession of God of Winds should have put Zephyr into a position of being slightly disdained in a pantheon who mostly lived in a land of sandy deserts - cursing the dry heat that sapped strength and whipped up biting sandstorms that would bury cities and take lives - but Zephyr was too innocent and too gentle to truly understand his scope, and thus his scope went ignored. The winds he brought to Ixiaver were cool in defiance of logic, a fresh and gentle breeze that would invigorate the steps of travelers through the land, gradually stealing both spheres and worship from others. God of Travelers became another appellation as they prayed for and praised Zephyr's calming gales.
However... what would be the downfall of all would be Zephyr's open disdain for the Ixiaver pantheon's practices of slavery. To bind another being's will and fate was the same to him as trying to bottle a windstorm and he stood in full defiance of it, creating his true title: Zephyr the Windcaller, God of Winds and Freedom, and making it clear he would shelter any escaped slaves who came to his territory.
Back in the present, the Zorgoia kept on his march, "My boss in the new pantheon... he's really sweet too." Zephyr said, continuing his self-narration as he took notice of the distant buildings and gave a soft inhale before moving to approach them, all the spring in his step having fallen away. To anyone who knew Zephyr in detail though would know the most dire of signs; his ever-lingering smile had fallen, and gained a hint of melancholy to it as he approached further.
Anurama, an Anubis from an alternate timeline of Earth had recently been Called to Vakkert Sedd, to replace the role of Anubis as judge of the dead... but to also replace the title of Pantheon Head, as Ra was... gone. Things were moving again and they were moving fast, it was hard for him to believe it had only been five years. He was so sweet, and Zephyr immediately saw his kind intentions and considered him a friend, almost more than a superior, in many ways.
Zephyr approached the buildings he had spent the time walking towards, having come up to a cracked and sand-worn archway, half-buried in a dune. Zephyr inhaled softly again as he dropped his tail and let the satchel fall and pop open, to reveal the contents as a doll of himself, a scroll filled with names, and an incense burner. "I've even got a new follower." Zephyr said, his voice having fallen now, the usual loud happiness fading, if not just a bit.
"I guess I'm ready to give the whole... god thing a try again."
5 years ago.
"Impudent child! The way you behave flies in the face of my rule!" The sun god roared in anger at Zephyr's tribunal. "We thought that to give you a fraction of godly might would reign in the chaos you brought to our lands with your strange magic, and yet you now stand as a champion of slaves as they break their chains, murder their masters and hide under your territory from reprisal!" He continued.
Handed a territory that had no fertile land, rivers or oasis, Zephyr was effectively kicked to the back row to be worshipped in suffered silence, visited only by those who would wish to make a trek to his temple. His youthful spark of defiance made him use his wind magic to cut and erode a river all the way to the front of his temple, to offer succor to the escaped slaves who rallied under him. Within months, Zephyr's temple had become a temple city, carved sandstone and monuments erected by hand and by magic by people who owed everything to Zephyr, but did all these things because they chose to do so.
"Lord Zephyr, look!" One of the citizens of the city said as they ran up to Zephyr, a bright smile on their face as the ran up to him with a doll that bore Zephyr's likeness, but looked... really bad.
Zephyr looked at it and squeed, then reached down and grabbed the doll and hugged it, "It's so ugly, I love it!" He said, making the weaver girl blink.
"Lord Zephyr?" She said, clearly caught off guard by his bluntness.
"It's ugly but you made it because you wanted to!" Zephyr said, knowing her story well, as he knew all of his followers' stories, "You weren't ever supposed to do anything except listen to what your master told you, but you made this of your own will, cuz you're free, cuz you could!" He added, immediately making the realization flash on the girl's face that made her smile. Freedom to pursue, to grow, to become more than what her former owners told her she was ever allowed to be, that was the beauty of Zephyr's city and of being protected by him, freedom to pursue anything that you would like to... even if you were awful at it. He looked up at the slightly misshapen statues of himself by people who would never be stonecutters and structures made of patched together wood traded from afar, made by people who would never work in construction had they not found their freedom.
Everything went wrong the next day.
Called to trial, Zephyr was to be dealt with by the pantheon for going against their ways. Zephyr saw himself as invincible and, in truth, arrogant and flippantly brushed off the ranting and raving of Ra for challenging his power, well aware due to his pantheon's various schemes and plots against the previous Ra the dangers of letting a threat like Zephyr slip his leash. Ra declared Zephyr was to be exiled to a demigod and stripped of his powers and immortality. But when he tried to invoke the ritual, all it took was a "nah" from Zephyr, delivered dismissively, and the ritual failed. This escalated tensions to their final level and he slammed his staff on the ground. Defying a pantheon head's judgement in this way could only have come from Zephyr's Otherly powers, what they thought was a leash was never bound to his neck in the first place, and he could just look a greater god in the face and reject their judgement.
"But..." Zephyr said in the present, after having set up the incense burner, looking at the doll and the list of names as he stared through the archway. "But..." Zephyr said again, his face now totally neutral, but his tone choking back pained tears.
"But I still miss you all so much, my faithful friends." Zephyr finally choked out as he flopped on his side, staring through the archway, the entrance to his buried temple city, past and present colliding in his mind as he remembered how this ended, his mind's eyes seeing ruins as though staring through a portal.
5 years ago
Few things can hurt a god, but every god needs followers and without them they will fade eventually, first to demigods, then to mortals. As Zephyr traded verbal back and forths with an enraged Ra, it was Serqet once more who stepped in to diffuse the tensions. Perhaps it was because she was the god of venomous creatures and Zephyr was one such venomous creature, but they were quick and good friends in the old days, so she did her best to look out for Zephyr, but unfortunately she couldn't save him, from Ra or from himself.
In a huff, Zephyr stormed off back home, only to find the portal sealed by sand, a large quantity of sand. "He didn't... no, no he didn't." Zephyr said, his heart dropping instantly as he took to the skies, his body dissolving in the air itself, allowing him to travel anywhere in the world he wanted instantly. He arrived to his temple city and gasped, placing a paw over his mouth as his eyes went wide with shock and grief - the entire thing... buried in a sandstorm up to the roof of the highest buildings. Using his control of wind he swept the sand away in one massive burst and ran into his city, through the archway he lay in front of in the present day and looked around, his chest burning up with sorrow... he was too late. How long ago did this happen? Was this because he was busy bickering with Ra while he was passing this judgement? And the way the sand drowned the city, entering even the shelters... it was guided, it was directed.
It was spite, his city had been wiped out by a disaster brought about by his own element. He ran through the city trying to find anyone, anybody that had managed to hold on under the weight and breathlessness of the sand, and he found nothing. Wandering the city as his steps slowed down and he began to cry, the final straw was seeing the weaver-girl's lifeless body, with that awful looking doll of himself laying next to her second, much better attempt of a cute little plushy that looked like a cross between a seal and an orange. The floodgates opened, and Zephyr screamed aloud and cried in that spot for hours.
Once he was finished, grieving but with a growing fury in his heart, Zephyr stormed the pantheon's halls screaming for Ra.
"You made a mistake when you defied me, demon of chaos." Ra said, making it clear how quickly he now dismissed Zephyr. And then he pushed just that littlest bit further. "Why are you so tearful? They were just mortals, made to serve us."
Zephyr snapped in an instant at the dismissal and the casual cruelty of the lives that were snuffed out purely to hurt someone else. "Made to serve?! They had names that we didn't give them, they had aspirations and lives that weren't ours, they were my friends, more than just 'my mortals'!" Zephyr screamed through tears as as, on the mortal plane, a horrific gale kicked up that quickly swallowed the entire continent of Ixiaver in a sandstorm that could be seen from the shores of neighboring continents and islands. "How dare you! How dare you!" Zephyr screamed in rage as the pantheon watched in growing horror as Zephyr began to show a degree of power that nobody, not even he, was aware he had as his anger was starting an apocalyptic sandstorm over the entire continent.
"Zephyr! Please!" Serqet begged, grabbed Zephyr into a hug. "You are a god of a pantheon. You have a say over your mortals' role in the afterlife. Go and retrieve them, see them, calm yourself." She begged, winning through Zephyr's heart and getting him to calm down. "Walk the Duat, go to them." She said, whispering quietly. Zephyr's friendship with her was the only reason he calmed down and agreed, going to walk the afterlife's road to retrieve his followers, who he knew had kind and pure hearts that would earn them paradise. As Zephyr walked away, another of the gods approached Serqet, whispering in concern, "You know what he'll find", they said to her, and she just nodded, sadly, "We've let this go on too long... I believe Zephyr will end it, he needs to."
Long ago, the Primal Beings had made a single rule of judgement that every afterlife should follow; only the weight of one's sins mattered in judgement, heaven and hell were chosen entirely by the deeds in one's life and not by who they believed in or what gods personally thought of them. When Zephyr arrived to the place of his follower's judgement, was he saw reignited the broken-hearted fury in his chest, set into a wildfire by one simple sentence.
"Guilty, for the sin of worshipping the false god Zephyr, bringer of chaos." He heard from Anubis, as the scales tipped against them, consigning them to eternal misery.
In that moment, an Other realized their potential.
In that moment, a Pantheon died.
The sky of every realm of the pantheon's afterlives shattered like glass and fell away to reveal something akin to TV static as Zephyr dove into sands of hell, and within seconds, the entire desert turned to glass, and millions of years of damned souls were ejected from their judgements. The final strike was for Zephyr to free the worst of the worst - committing an impossible act, a true heresy, his wind magic backed by his eldritch energies split the chimera Ammit in half, spilling out the souls that had been fed to her as their judgements. When he did however, what came next changed the context of this rampage entirely; Anubis - the REAL Anubis - spilled out of her corpse as well, and standing up with rage in his heart struck down the judge, revealing it to be a golem.
The look of shock and horror on the face of the rest of the pantheon was unparalleled when a million-years-sealed Anubis marched on heaven with an army of damned souls - millions of whom were sentenced to their fates unjustly - at his back, and Zephyr at his side, reality itself warping and breaking with every step. There was to be a reckoning and there was to be justice.
In the present, Zephyr looked down at the sand, his neutral expression having finally turned into a frown as he focused on the pain of that day and the grief. "Why did they make you suffer because of me... it will never be right!" Zephyr said as he shook his head, fighting back open tears as his forever happy-go-lucky mask fell away to show the pain he kept in his heart from having his friends, who he loved like family, killed because of pantheonic power struggles he wanted no part in, just because he was different in a way they didn't like.
5 years ago.
As consequence of his rage, Zephyr had uncovered a scheme the likes of which finally drew the attention of those highest powers. The Primal Beings themselves intervened in this tragedy by calling court, and taking every single being present to stand trial.
What exactly happened within the trial? That memory is sealed and while Zephyr remembers, anyone who was left after that incident was given a compulsion that prevents them from going into specifics - laid down by Primals, not even Zephyr's reality warping is able to overcome it. But the results speak for themselves.
The pantheon was dissolved entirely, every god clearly found to hold at least some culpability in their head god's scheme to enforce a caste system in life and in death that amounted to little more than an eternity of slavery and use like objects instead of true paradise for the valorous, and hell for the wicked. Only Zephyr, the whistleblower, and Anubis, who was sealed away, were spared the culling that followed, at best the others were all stripped away to demigods, the direct conspirators were reduced directly to mortals... and the position of Sun God, the title of Ra? Retired entirely. Though the current holder of the seat did not start these injustices, the Successor that stepped up knowingly continued it. For this reason, the next Sun God would be entirely new, rather than a successor to the existing seat and title of Ra.
Though the Pantheon would not be destroyed entirely, like a former pantheon whose very name was struck from existence after they began to actively destroy souls as punishment (by far the MOST unforgiveable crime in existence), it would only be filled with Successor gods, and that would only come after Anubis had rebuilt enough of an afterlife for mortal souls go to - done right, this time.
When the time came to pass judgement on Zephyr, the Primals took pity on him. He was dangerous, but he was hurt, hurt beyond reason by someone that they were planning to deal with once they had firmer proof of his dealings, but was accelerated by Zephyr breaking the afterlife. It wouldn't be justice to sentence him to oblivion as they would an actively malicious Other when he only lashed out because he was antagonized and pushed to any living creature's emotional breaking point. At the suggestion of the Primal Nyx, and with Zephyr's consent to its fairness, Chronos sealed Zephyr away in a time bubble, where he would experience a hundred years of time, over five real-time years.
Now finally able to grieve, sealed away in a place where he could be alone with his thoughts for as long as he needed to be, Zephyr let it all out and began to truly mourn and weep for his lost friends and followers, crying for them, reflecting on them. As time passed though, he began to think about the other things. He could have done it differently, the way he handled being a god and joining the pantheon, maybe he could have been a bit more respectful and maybe that would have bought him the time the Primals needs to make their case and do this without the sacrifice. And his temper... gods, he thought, he almost wiped out an entire continent, what would that have made him?
A hundred years lived over five would be enough to drive most to madness, but Zephyr was already quite mad, in his own ways, so it was simply a chance to reflect, to think and to live. When the barrier fell, Zephyr's emotional scars had healed over, even though he knew they'd never go away forever he was ready to get back out in the world and explore how it had changed in five years. When he saw a white dragon flying overhead, he gave a big smile and chased after him, to start his new adventures.
In the present, Zephyr gave one last exhale as the moon rose into the sky, casting a blue light into the sky and bringing a chill to the desert. "You guys... don't mind right?" Zephyr said, still seeming melancholy, but having let his tears dry up, as he spoke to nobody, his ears twitching, as though expecting a response from people that weren't there. "Slavery is illegal here now, but there's dying gasps... they need me back, they need to know Freedom is still a godhood they can flock under." He added.
A breeze kicked up behind him, a breeze that wasn't his magic in this arid desert, carrying coolness. And as the wind brushed his ears, his eyes shot open and the tears started over again as he lowered his head to try to keep from completely losing his composure again, that familiar smile finally returning as he blinked and looked up at the night sky, "I promise!" He said in response with that familiarly cheery, happy voice, having heard the voices of his city, of his followers... of the friends he loved so much as to consider them his family members.
Looking around, he saw the silhouette of a jackal-man in a distant dune before he ducked away at being seen, Zephyr smiling as he knew why he heard their voices on the wind when he asked that question to seemingly nobody. Pulling himself up and stowing the doll and the list of his citizens' names away, a hard gale burst the sand clinging to his fur off as he looked back one more time at the ruins.
"It's time to start over. The God of Winds and Freedom... is home."
- End.
Hoo... it's been a long time since I've done a completely SFW, in-depth and emotional story.
Zephyr's past is something I've kept incredibly close to my chest for the going on seven years he's existed as I work on small details, to finally find a chance to post it all at once. You may have seen abridged versions if you follow my Twitter or my Toyhou.se, but this is the first time I've wanted to go extremely in-depth on it, framed as Zephyr having a remembrance of everything that lead him here and now.
Some scars never quite heal, they just fade away and become gentler. Though Zephyr has healed quite well from his trauma, he'll never forget what happened.
The amazing artwork that portrayed this memorial and inspired me to finally get this well-kept origin in the background is all attributed to
CorgandaZephyr belongs to me!
Category All / General Furry Art
Species Zorgoia
Size 1100 x 3351px
File Size 3.49 MB
This story was really, really amazing. I am amazed at the depth, and the amount of emotion inside of it. I loved reading it, and I hope to see more stories like this. It was just, beautiful. I truly love this character's backstory, and the comic page paired with it. Sad and tragic as this story is, I bet it has a positive upside for the character later on. I'm happy to have seen this in my submissions feed today ☺️
Oh yes, while I’m not the firmest believer in tragedy builds character (not that you could tell by how damaged a lot of my cast is), I do have a belief that people can overcome pain and tragedy as long as they have people in their life to help them.
And hey, the 4th wall is just a suggestion to Zephyr, his happy present day is probably just knowing he’s basically my mascot and adored by loads of people
And hey, the 4th wall is just a suggestion to Zephyr, his happy present day is probably just knowing he’s basically my mascot and adored by loads of people
To be honest, this is the first time I have actually seen / understood them full on as a character, as I am one of your more or less newer follower for FA, but like, while I am used to le vorny stuffs and dragons, I might have maybe just missed something you've posted probably, or my forgetful ass just doesn't remember. But, again, I really hope to see more stories. You obviously have a strong solid skill with story telling and atmosphere building.
Such a mixed whirlwind of feelings
Both cute and serious, both tender yet harsh with a reality of life and both sad... but hopeful
Guess it is how the life itself is painted - with multiple colors and tints and never with only one
The ones that see only black or white are either blinded by the light of naivety or by the abyss of despair
Beautiful sequence and story
Both cute and serious, both tender yet harsh with a reality of life and both sad... but hopeful
Guess it is how the life itself is painted - with multiple colors and tints and never with only one
The ones that see only black or white are either blinded by the light of naivety or by the abyss of despair
Beautiful sequence and story
Whoops, I actually forgot to mention that part, I knew I was missing something.
So with the pantheonic afterlives destroyed, all the souls needed to be rehomed, so they ended up getting sent to the 'non-pantheonic' heaven, overseen by the celestials and infernals that
ThatRandomLurkingGuy works on mostly. That was where they were supposed to go to begin with because that's how it's supposed to work for mortals the gods have judgement-affection opinions on, if not for the corruption going on in the leadership.
So with the pantheonic afterlives destroyed, all the souls needed to be rehomed, so they ended up getting sent to the 'non-pantheonic' heaven, overseen by the celestials and infernals that
ThatRandomLurkingGuy works on mostly. That was where they were supposed to go to begin with because that's how it's supposed to work for mortals the gods have judgement-affection opinions on, if not for the corruption going on in the leadership. 
Pretty much, they got to go a heaven overseen by Death as the TL:DR, separate from any pantheons or belief system. Zephyr might get to visit them, one day, but they know he needs to keep his mind on the future, so they're keeping it in the back pocket to surprise him later.
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