Ritualistic Towers of Death

A pink mist wafted through the top of the unfinished building, a structure of nothing more than steel beams, wooden floors and stretched canvases, open to the harsh mountain winds around them. It, like most of the other ruined towers around it, was once part of a Kronospast attempt to colonize Temthan territories. When they were defeated, they left their formerly shimmering towers behind, only for them to be stripped down by locals. Most of the towers were empty. Most of the time.

The highest floor on this building was the only one occupied, kept warm by ritualistic fires. Occultists and religious priests used this precarious building and many of the other, similar towers nearby regularly in their attempts to commune with deities.

Today, they had succeeded.

Somewhat.

The Whenvern’s wings thrust the pink mists aside, clearing the air and revealing what had happened. Multiple cauldrons of red, viscous, worrying fluids were boiling away, releasing the stinging pink and purple gases, choking the oxygen and nitrogen away. A curious black smoke remained, circling around the recently deceased.

“ARKADIN!”

“What?” the Death Lord asked as he closed the eyes of each victim then tapped them on the stomach, enabling the microorganisms inside them to begin the decomposing process. “They’re dead.”

“You killed my followers!” Kairos shouted, his voice echoing across the mountains.

Arkadin glanced at the bodies, then at the scattered equipment and still-bubbling cauldrons. “You think they were worshipping you?”

Kairos flew over then circled around, inspecting from a distance. There seemed to be a mixture of species here, all somewhat Temthan-like but with traces of Deiton in them. It was most likely that they were the result of cross-breeding between Temthans and Kronospasts or possibly even Anexartitai aeons ago.

“Maybe? A lot of the worshippers here call my name!” Kairos almost boasted. “You don’t hear them calling yours!”

The Thantophor shrugged. He didn’t care. He was a god of death, it didn’t bother him that mortals never really worshipped him. He’d claim them all in the end, whether they believed in his existence or otherwise.

Kairos turned back to the cultists. Not a single one of them had survived whatever it was they were conjuring up. “They’re dead though…”

“Yep. Suffocated because of toxic gases. To be expected when you burn wild plants and mushrooms without checking what they are first.”

“They weren’t worshipping me?” Kairos suddenly asked. “They were… worshipping Yisini?” Kairos spun around, trying to work out exactly where he was. “This place is normally filled with people who worship me. This is…”

“This is part of Yisini’s trying to, uh, spread herself…” Arkadin tutted as he put out the fires. “You know what she’s like, always trying to spread herself and get things to reproduce more. She decided the other day to, I dunno, do that faster.”

Kairos grunted. “And she didn’t consult me or Epani?”

“Why should she?”

“Well, I like being worshipped.”

“Why though?”

The Whenvern glared at the Thantophor. “Why don’t you like being worshipped?”

Arkadin tutted. “I do my job no matter what people say or do. Same goes for you.”

“What I do is important, and I enjoy being praised for my work!” Kairos replied proudly. “Without me, there would be none of this at all! I’m the second most powerful of all of us!”

With another tut, Arkadin decided to change the subject. Discussing who was strongest was never a good conversation to have. “Well, Yisini’s insisting on spreading herself. If you and Epani want to try and do something, be my guest. But I’m not taking part in this worshipping stuff. It’s not right.”

Kairos wasn’t paying attention. He was busy inspecting everything. “This happened relatively quickly. Like, they switched deities… almost overnight…”

The Thantophor didn’t care. He had done his duty.

“Arkadin, are you…”

“I have nothing to do with this and want nothing to do with it.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Were you going to ask me to help you?” Arkadin tutted.

“No, I was just curious…” Kairos muttered as he flew off. “I’ll, uh, leave you to your duties…”