Leaderless

Rethais was rather upset. Today was supposed to be a day off, a day of rest, after the feasting of Macromera. A day to sleep off the food and alcohol and spend time with the family. Considering he had been working non-stop over the winter break, Rethais had been desperate for some time off with his partner.

But no, another catastrophe had just occurred. Thankfully, the entirety of Thre-Vretania’s water sources hadn’t been contaminated with rivers of toxic gold, but that had nearly happened, and now the Rethavok were yet again leaderless. Being leaderless wasn’t the problem though. Rethan society had experienced that plenty of times in the past. However, this time, many of their society’s structures had been… dismantled by their now dead leader.

A dead leader whose lingering mind control was still heavily affecting them all.

“We are, to put it nicely, fucked.”

Vaxavius had appeared behind Rethais, interrupting his brief break from overlooking all the sudden construction work. The two of them were supposed to be forming a plan to regain control over society, but with all the gods running around, it was nigh impossible to get anything done. Not to mention that most Rethans were only really responding to basic instructions.

Rethais couldn’t help but nod. “We’ve slowed down.”

“Have you left the building yet? It is more than just slowing down. We have has a collective aneurysm. Ourselves included. We sent out announcements for everyone to return home and shelter in place, and vok are wandering around the streets in shock. It is not that we are leaderless, we have become brainless. The Void Lord is gone, and he took us out with him. And, not only that, but he has dismantled all our support structures, not just for the Rethavok but for all the species we were offering aid to.”

Rethais sighed, rubbing his eyes. There was a lot of panic in his mind, in everyone’s minds, but he was doing his best to at least appear calm. “What can we do though? The gods are having fun examining whatever the fuck happened. We are picking up the pieces. Sure, we can survive a few weeks, maybe even a few months. After that, I have no idea. The population overall might flat out reject us as leaders, temporarily or otherwise.”

“We need leaders though. We cannot be leaderless.”

Tutting, Rethais gazed off, into the distance. Four deities were all prancing around, ordering soldiers around. They had all the power now and were putting it to good use. Heck, Rethais’s own legion of soldiers had responded more quickly to the Whenvern’s suggestions than Rethais’s orders.

“I do not think we have a choice in any of this any more…”

“What do you mean?” Vaxavius asked, before glancing at what Rethais was looking at.

The Allbirther had very tidily rounded up not just a few Rethans, but also somehow summoned a group of Skyavok and Kronospasts to help her analyse the potential damage from having a massive fountain of gold in the middle of a city. Sure, the Rethavok were leaderless, but the gods certainly weren’t. Several Legions were working alongside the Panelix, building structures to keep the underground foundations secure. And five teams of Rethans and Temthans were assisting the Whenvern in the construction and transportation of containers, filled with liquid blood-metal, taking them elsewhere so they could harden into more useful products.

Leading them all was the Allbirther, with a vaguely familiar Rethan by her side, as well as eleven other beings, all representing other species.

“I think our government has changed…” Vaxavius muttered. “I do not think we are in charge any more…”

Rethais shook his head. “No, not any more. We live in a theocracy now…”