Deicidium
Trigger/content warnings: blood, viruses, violence, firearms, death, topic of deities, terrorist act, biological weapon, biological warfare.
Pages: 1 Words: 1,066 Reading time according to Ellipsus: 5 minutes Setting: Oracle Corp Characters: Angelus, Jelani, Loke, Trevor, Uthorim (character belongs to @/deityofforsakenfates), Varg, The Pius
Written as part of the prompt challenge from @flashfictionfridayofficial!
I have this story wriggling around in my head again and this was the perfect prompt for it. Some day I'll sit down and properly write this thing.
The room erupted in a cacophony of yelling and screaming, poisonous words between comrades, friends, colleagues, and in some instances family. Fear was laced into the words, expressions and movements between them all, some even going so far as to become hostile though he wasn't sure if it was intentional or a product of the fear he could sense and smell emanating from all of them.
He looked towards Loke. He was noticeably scared but he was also beyond enraged at that point, Trevor and Uthorim managed to talk him into putting his gun away. The trigger for said explosive behavior was Varg's suggestion that the PMC gather up every divine in the realm and lock them away until they could solve the issue. Varg's suggestion was controversial, it earned some approval and some resistance. Angelus himself was appalled at the idea of doing so especially knowing full well that his husband was a divine. The very idea of gathering him up and locking him somewhere as if he was to blame for what was happening made him sick to his stomach. The result of which was Angelus pushing Varg against the concrete wall of the bunker and had Uthorim not stopped him he would've done something he would regret later on.
Uthorim had remained calm, at least on the surface he appeared so, ever since they figured out the virus was airborne he was fitted with a heavily customized PPE setup he had to wear everywhere except for the bunker he was currently in. Entry to the bunker was heavily monitored and everyone, whether they were divine or mortal, had to be checked and decontaminated. Uthorim wasn't thrilled with the idea of being kept in a bunker but part of him felt cautious about the virus, he'd seen the effects first hand. It destroyed its victims from the inside and drove them mad. They all looked like they were conscious of what was happening but couldn't stop themselves. He saw a god of life take it as if it meant nothing to Him. He saw footage of a nature goddess explode an area while screaming and bawling Her eyes out as She kneeled in the center of a park once filled with life and vegetation. Her cries for help extinguished by a flash of light and what remained of Her bloody body was scattered all over the park. For the first time in a very long time he was afraid. He turned to his side and looked at Loke, the fire and fury of his rage displayed for all to see and know. His sclera now a blood red circling his glowing pale green eyes as he stared at Varg and continued to hurl insults at him. Uthorim was more worried about his husband than he was of himself, this crisis affected him twofold.
The room fell into a sudden silence when the door to the interrogation room where one of the people responsible for the virus had been kept. Jelani walked in alongside two heavily armored and armed vampires who stood by the door. It was almost comical to see a pair of vampires keep watch over a deity of that caliber yet Aleksey demanded it. Jelani sat across the man who began to smile, genuinely smile in joy.
"O, saint of existence!" The man's breath quivered as he looked at him, "Your Grace…!" The man dropped his head on the white table in front of him and stretched his arms forward as if in prayer.
"Don't fucking call me that." Jelani snapped back as he looked at the man with disgust. His actions and involvement with the events were enough to disgust him but acknowledging his status as a divine was an insult to him.
"A thousand apologies, my lord. I'm honored by your presence, how can I be of service?"
"Where's Roosevelt?"
The man remained silent for a few seconds as he looked at Jelani, that strange and over joyous smile still plastered all over his face. "Your holiness—"
"What the fuck did I just say?!" Jelani yelled, his patience was wearing thin.
"We're at the end of this specific road. It's your one and only chance to choose how this ends. Either end everything in one swift and painless move or destroy it all in a glory of chaos and destruction. You don't have any other choice, it's not like you're allowed to just snap your fingers and make all of this go away."
Jelani sat back as he stared back at the man and scowled at him. He was fully aware of what he meant by not being allowed and in his head he cast a million curses towards a particular Concept noting the hypocrisy of the title It held as It sat back and did nothing or even allowed anything to be done. Jelani didn't understand it and probably never would.
The man fell silent and kept staring at Jelani, that same creepy smile on his lips though this time tears formed and silently slid down his cheeks. He closed his eyes as he inhaled and lifted his head up subtly waving it from side to side.
The man hummed and as soon as he fell silent again he slammed his face into the table with full force over and over and over again. Jelani stood up and backed away while the armed guards motioned forward but Jelani stopped them as he watched the man slam his own face into the once white table. Everyone outside of the interrogation room recoiled in shock and disgust while Loke, Angelus, Trevor, and Uthorim ran towards the door in case Jelani needed help.
After slamming his face for the ninth time he stopped and looked at Jelani again, his face was mangled and bloody and even through all of that he was still smiling. Breathless and in pain he leaned closer to Jelani and in a gurgled voice said, "Hail Maker of Makers, holy Extension of the Concept of Existence and harbinger of its end."
Jelani let out a quiet gasp when he heard the word extension, his expression turned from anger to fear in a matter of seconds. Before he could ask how he knew about that the man leaned further and spit out as much of his blood as he could on Jelani before he dropped dead on the table.
